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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29370858">I just want a home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuchALem/pseuds/SuchALem'>SuchALem</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Oracle [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU, Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Wings, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Brother Feels, Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Angst, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Childhood Friends, Eventual Happy Ending, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Found Family, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I literally just dropped them in one of my OC universes but none of my OCs are planned to appear, No Romance, Platonic Relationships, SBI 5/4, The Classic, Wing AU, Wingfic, Wings, alternative universe, but also a dragon au, friendship supremacy - Freeform, i need a beta reader, one of them is mentioned tho, please read the summary and notes I'm begging, sbi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:40:55</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>18,393</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29370858</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuchALem/pseuds/SuchALem</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"Half was the term to describe all but one person who lived here. It described the handful of people visiting each year. It described someone who had to deal with two worlds of conflict. Humans and dragons are so vastly different, so it made sense that a combination of the two would be an entirely unique problem. From what Tommy knew, the existence of people like himself and Tubbo had started a war. Everyone here was a victim of it, and Ms. Grahn was just doing them the favor of hiding them from it. How did Tommy know this? He wasn’t a thief, but Ms. Grahn never locked the door to her office."</p><p>Notice: writing quality increases as it goes, since this is my first *uploaded* fic</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Niki | Nihachu &amp; Wilbur Soot, No Romantic Relationship(s), Ranboo &amp; Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF), Ranboo &amp; Toby Smith | Tubbo &amp; Technoblade &amp; Phil Watson, Ranboo &amp; Toby Smith | Tubbo &amp; Wilbur Soot &amp; Technoblade &amp; TommyInnit &amp; Phil Watson, Ranboo &amp; Wilbur Soot &amp; Technoblade, Ranboo &amp; Wilbur Soot &amp; Technoblade &amp; Phil Watson, Ranboo &amp; Wilbur Soot &amp; TommyInnit, Technoblade &amp; TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Toby Smith | Tubbo &amp; Wilbur Soot, Wilbur Soot &amp; Technoblade, Wilbur Soot &amp; Technoblade &amp; TommyInnit &amp; Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot &amp; TommyInnit &amp; Phil Watson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Oracle [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2222910</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Friendly Visit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hey hey! I just updated this chapter as of 4/4/21! I added plenty of new stuff to smooth out the flow and explain the world a little more. If you've read this pre update, I suggest reading the updated chapter, as it adds some info that will be useful later on! Additionally, I retconned like 3 lines because they didn't really make sense at all. Obviously I've made up for it with the several new paragraphs so... enjoy!</p>
<p>Anyways, it's 3AM, I'm gonna sleep.</p>
<p>(new formatting update, applies to all chapters. YW)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em> What a cursed world. </em>
</p>
<p><em> What a damn cursed world </em>, Tommy thought as he rolled awake. At least he still had his friend.</p>
<p>Sunlight poured into the horribly tiny room, stopping on the face of a brown haired boy laying across from him. Well, with the size of the room, the other side was within reaching distance.  The two hardly even had anywhere to store their raggy clothes. With a groan, Tommy prodded him awake. A mumble sounded from his friend, something along the lines of ‘too early,’ but Tommy didn’t care.</p>
<p>“C’mon, I’m hungry,” he said quietly. After a moment, his friend rose to stretch, and settled into a yawn.</p>
<p>“Maybe today will be different,” his friend seemingly said to himself. Tubbo did that every day. Every single day for the past… what, 10 years? Had it really been that long?</p>
<p>Everything here was memorized, and had been for years now. This dark wooded structure sat a little ways away from a lonely road had been his home for as long as Tommy could remember. Their door creaked loudly if you opened it too slowly, and that would likely never be fixed. Nobody here knew anything about building. Whoever had built it was either long dead or moved on as soon as the job was done. There was only one adult, the rest were children. Once someone came of age, they would typically leave to see the world for themselves. Nobody ever came back. Maybe it was because they had died, but there was a decent chance they just didn’t want to return to this shoddy place. When Tommy felt optimistic he’d stare off while imagining that some of them had ended up with great lives. Of course, anyone sane knew that wasn’t possible nowadays.</p>
<p>The two made their way from the tiny bedroom into the main hall, where all sorts of winged children were chomping away. Mrs. Grahn, the caretaker, was still waiting at the counter with breakfast. So strange that she was human. Most of the two benches plunked against the wall were full already, but that was fine. Tommy and Tubbo preferred to sit by the tree outside instead of being with the other kids, especially since they tried to steal their food. Pricks.</p>
<p>The other kids were dumb though. They thought that just because Tubbo sprouted some horns one day, he was cooler than Tommy. Which unfortunately led to the other children figuring out that they could bribe Tubbo for his food. The boy said that “they’re too sweet to ignore” or some bullsht like that, but Tommy knew deep down that he was just a wuss.</p>
<p>“Honey crackers!” Tubbo said with a jolt. The scent made him blast off towards the counter before his still sleepy friend could even realize what happened.</p>
<p>“Hey! Wait up, you ass!”</p>
<p>Before Tommy even began to run, Tubbo had already received his breakfast from Ms. Grahn.</p>
<p>“Young man, what have I told you about swearing?” The old human lectured once Tommy had reached the counter.</p>
<p>“Sorry ma'am, I won’t do it again,” he replied with a finger crossed. He’d never give up his freedom of speech.</p>
<p>Tubbo, who already managed to get to the door outside, called for him. Trudging through the tall grass was annoying, since the grass would reach up to tickle his scales. Honestly, any strange textures just felt downright wrong against them.</p>
<p>The tiny cliff the two marched towards housed an absolute behemoth of a tree. Ms. Grahn would constantly ramble about how the tree had been there since before the idea of halves was first being accepted. The two sat at the tree as usual, and Tommy rested his tail along the trickling roots.</p>
<p><em>Halves.</em> <em>Strange thing to call us, huh?</em></p>
<p>Half was the term to describe all but one person who lived here. It described the handful of people visiting each year. It described someone who had to deal with two worlds of conflict. Humans and dragons are so vastly different, so it made sense that a combination of the two would be an entirely unique problem. From what Tommy knew, the existence of people like himself and Tubbo had started a war. Everyone here was a victim of it, and Ms. Grahn was just doing them the favor of hiding them from it. How did Tommy know this? He wasn’t a thief, but Ms. Grahn never locked the door to her office.</p>
<p>Honey crackers and apples for today’s breakfast. Not his favorite, but definitely Tubbo’s. <em> It’s probably a pastel thing </em>, he thought. Pastel was apparently the type of half Tubbo was. He got strange little quirks from being like this. First of all, his scales were colorful as fk, second, his sense of smell was scarily powerful, and third, he had some weird mojo with plants. Of course, not everyone knew what their little ability was, since Ms. Grahn doesn’t know much about halves, so most of them just had to figure it out. Tommy may or may not have still been in the process of this at age 16.</p>
<p>“Do you think we’ll ever get a home?” his friend wondered aloud after he had shoved some honey crackers into his face.</p>
<p>“Nah, we’re not far off from leaving. Plus that stupid war’s still goin on, as far as I’m aware.”</p>
<p>“Well the war didn’t stop some of the others. Maybe we’ll get lucky!” Tubbo thumped hopefully. He was too optimistic about this.</p>
<p>“People hardly even visit this place, and the assholes that do never have the money. We’re better off without a family anyways, Tubbo. They’d probably suck.”</p>
<p>“I guess.”</p>
<p>A few moments went by before he was asked another question.</p>
<p>“D’ya think Wil’s gonna come by today?”</p>
<p>He hummed for a moment, thinking.</p>
<p>Yeah, Wilbur. He was a strange fella. The guy had an odd thing where he always got his age wrong, but overall he was actually really nice. He was almost on par with Tubbo in terms of how much Tommy liked him, especially when he started playing music.</p>
<p>“Maybe. Pebble boy hasn’t been around for a bit. I suppose seeing him again wouldn’t be the worst.” Of course, Tommy would never admit his appreciation for Wilbur to anyone else. The only person he’d talk about his appreciation for was himself.</p>
<p>“Honestly I hope he gets the money to take us someday. He’s awesome!” Tubbo thumped again, revealing a small patch of white flowers that had begun to sprout beneath his tail. Tommy gestured at them, and with a soft ‘oh,’ he stopped thumping.</p>
<p>“You really think he’d take us?” Tommy continued. Someone as nice as Wilbur wouldn’t be the worst to have around on a daily basis.</p>
<p>“Yeah! Especially with that strange look he gives you every time. I swear, he’s seein’ somethin’ else when he looks at you.”</p>
<p>“You make him sound like a seer or something,” Tommy replied with slight confusion.</p>
<p>“Honestly I feel like he is one! Hasn’t it always been strange?”</p>
<p>“Well I reckon he’s just a nut job. A nice nut job, but a nut job.”</p>
<p>Tommy remembered how much of a weirdo Wilbur could be. He always showed off little trinkets he got from all over the continent, and his voice always got lighter whenever he talked about different cultures from all around. He just had all sorts of things to ramble about, which wasn’t a good or bad thing. The real oddities were with how Wilbur would occasionally just start staring at him for seemingly no reason. He wouldn’t say anything either, he just kind of sat there and looked at him.</p>
<p>Below them, an explosion of small figures spread from the door they had walked through, interrupting his thoughts.</p>
<p>“Agh, Tubbo!” His friend gasped once he saw the same scene. “Hurry! The quartz demon might not work again!” The two hurried towards the more wooded area, hoping to hide from the other children. The others hardly ever checked the woods for them, even though the two had been hiding there for years.</p>
<p>“Tommy!” Tubbo pointed at his back with slight panic.</p>
<p>Oh, right.</p>
<p>With a quick flick of his back muscles, he hid his ruby red wings from sight. Not even their occasional faint outline remained, as the wings sat comfortably inside his back. Tubbo didn’t have to hide his, though, perks of being a pastel dragon.</p>
<p>The usual group of kids, led by an emerald kid, ran up to the spot they were at before. Discouraged to see nobody, they ran back down the cliffside and dispersed within the crowd.</p>
<p>A sigh of relief escaped them both.</p>
<p>“Man, if they tried to take my honey crackers, I dunno what I would have done.”</p>
<p>Tommy chuckled.</p>
<p>“You and your honey crackers.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>-</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Once the sky had turned a dark orange, everyone had headed inside. Supper for today was tomato soup with some potatoes and whatever in it. Nothing special, but it was better than usual. Tubbo helped Ms. Grahn make it, as he usually did. He’s always been a fan of growing crops for her with his odd plant abilities. Tommy didn’t really care about cooking, but Tubbo liked it since he could understand it more than books.</p>
<p>Tubbo had a hard time with reading stuff that wasn’t numbers, even in Ms. Grahn’s fancy old lady hand writing. He wasn’t illiterate, but whenever he tried to read a book he’d get frustrated. He always complained about how words looked like they’d fall off of the page at any moment. Numbers were just fine though. In fact, he liked reading numbers. So when their caretaker handed him a paper that listed measurements for different cooking ingredients, Tubbo was pleased.</p>
<p>Tommy on the other hand, didn’t really get the whole cooking thing. While he could hardly sit still to read all the way through an ancient novel, he could enjoy a quick story. Poems in particular were really strange, but enjoyable bits of literature. Yeah, you’d have some that just rambled about how a purple flower held incredible significance and was oh so beautiful, but then you’d find the ones with an actual story to them. They were odd at times, but way better than the ‘painting’ poems.</p>
<p>Then there was the weird sht that Wilbur read. One time when visiting he had accidentally left a page with fancy scribbles on it. At first Tommy thought it was a letter to someone, but as he kept reading he realized it was some sort of deranged call for help. To tell it from a story perspective was nearly impossible, whoever had written it clearly had something wrong in their head, despite the contrasting handwriting.</p>
<p>Strangely enough, a curly haired half man entered the orphanage, freeing a soft yellow sweater and a black instrument from his dark and patchy trench coat. His grey wings unfurled from his back, revealing the river colored speckles that dotted them. Trailing behind him was a thin tail with the same scale pattern, blue spikes glistening from the top. The black beanie that he removed had revealed a pair of outlines that curled up nicely on his head. Tommy had never learned the name of the instrument Wilbur carried, he didn’t care that much. He just liked the music.</p>
<p>“Wilbur!” everyone else shouted. A smile spread across the musician’s face.</p>
<p>“Hello my little friends! It really has been too long!” He greeted cheerfully.</p>
<p>Tommy frowned. Tubbo was right, but something really fked up was going on this time around. The moment Wilbur stepped into the room, the hair on Tommy’s neck stood up. Something was <em> very </em> off about him. His smile wasn't as authentic as it typically was. The odd stares in Tommy’s direction were piercing his thoughts, and he just had a bad vibe to him this go around. Nothing obvious was wrong, hell, Wilbur hadn’t even done anything yet, but the shaking feeling was undeniable.</p>
<p>Tubbo eagerly tugged him towards the grey winged man, despite the uneasiness clearly displayed on Tommy’s face.</p>
<p>“Ah, Tommy and Tubbo! How’ve you two been!” Wilbur grinned. Tommy did not.</p>
<p>“I’m fine.” Tommy mumbled.</p>
<p>“Wil! I have missed you SO much! How many songs do you have this time around?” Tubbo thumped.</p>
<p>“You’ll have to wait and see!” Wilbur teased. “Ah, Miss Grahn! Good to see you!”</p>
<p>As the pebble scaled musician went on to discuss the visit with the caretaker, Tubbo gave him a concerned look.</p>
<p>“Why do you suddenly not like Wilbur?” he asked.</p>
<p>“I dunno. Bad vibe. Something’s not right.”</p>
<p>“Aww c’mon friend! It’s just another visit from our pal! Nothing’s gonna go wrong, I promise.” Tubbo continued, “He wouldn’t hurt a fly, really. Unless that fly managed to scratch an orphan, then he’d hunt it down and murder it’s family!” he chuckled.</p>
<p>He still wasn’t sure about it. Something was uncomfortably off. Like a plank of wood that was just a smidge too short to fit that had been just fine the day before.</p>
<p>Suddenly, a familiar soft hum caressed the room. Wilbur had begun playing his instrument, and everyone had quieted down. Tubbo sank to the floor, practically dragging Tommy with him. He crossed his arm in a slump without even thinking about it.</p>
<p>For his first song, Wilbur sang the classic story of Gullmaw. He thought that Gullmaw was a rubbish name, but the dragon himself was alright. Without him, this place probably wouldn’t exist. In fact, the only person in this room who would exist was Mrs. Grahn, since she’s human. Halves still suffer because of this stupid war though. It’s why him and Tubbo couldn’t get a home. Everyone is too busy fighting a dumb war to think about some kids.</p>
<p>Applause interrupted his thoughts. Looks like the first song was done. It was alright.</p>
<p>Wilbur stood to spread wings in thanks, then sat back down.</p>
<p><em> Oh, what a cold night, </em>the musician began.</p>
<p>
  <em> For the fires to burn bright. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Turning towards the light, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Turning towards the light. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Eyes are alight. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Oh ruby dragon, oh ruby dragon, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> What would we do? What would we do? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Oh ruby dragon, oh ruby dragon, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Why can’t we see you? Why can’t we see you? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Orange dances against the darkened wood. </em>
</p>
<p><em> He knows this can’t be good. </em>For the first time this song, he looks around. Of course his gaze would settle on Tommy. This time it was even weirder, his eyes seemed to cower.</p>
<p>
  <em> No no we cannot stay, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Can’t hit the hay, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> The fire’s burning brighter! </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Oh ruby dragon, oh ruby dragon, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> What would we do? What would we do? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Oh ruby dragon, oh ruby dragon, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Why can’t we see your magnificent scales? </em>
</p>
<p><em> Your pale hair? </em>Was Wilbur singing about him?</p>
<p>
  <em> Protect him and I’ll protect you, </em>
</p>
<p><em> The others couldn’t be- </em>Wilbur faltered. After glancing around, he picked up again, but without his singing voice.</p>
<p>“Safe without you, ruby dragon.”</p>
<p>Seemingly unaware of the fumble, the rest of the children applauded.</p>
<p>“Thank you, thank you.” Wilbur said shakily, setting his instrument down. He locked eyes with Tommy again while twitching his wings.</p>
<p>He looked over at Tubbo to find his friend looking puzzled.</p>
<p>“You saw that, right? He freaked out and cut the song off early!”</p>
<p>“I told you, something’s wrong!” Tommy could feel the shake in his voice as he said the words.</p>
<p>“Sorry kids, but I’ve got to take a quick break!” Wilbur announced hurriedly. “Promise I’ll be back with another song about good ol’ Gullmaw!”</p>
<p>Gullmaw? Yeah, right. He’s not the ruby dragon Wil was talking about.</p>
<p>Tommy instantly knew him and Tubbo were the ones Wilbur was hurrying towards. Instead of stopping, the pebble winged man strode past, with his whisper of “come with me” seeming to trail behind him. Tubbo stood to follow him.</p>
<p>“We have to see what’s up with him.”</p>
<p>The sky was a dark blue now, and Wilbur was pacing when the two boys found him.</p>
<p>With a start, the man leapt onto him with his wings flared up and out, digging his nails deep into Tommy’s arm.</p>
<p>“Tommy, I need you to listen to me,” he began maniacally. “When you see it, run. Just you and Tubbo, don’t go back for anyone else. I’ll find you. You’ll be safe. I promise.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Orange Dances</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>!!!CONTENT WARNINGS!!!</p><p>BLOOD, DEATH, TRAUMATIC EVENT, FIRE</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>!!! CONTENT WARNINGS AGAIN, JUST TO BE SURE!!!</p><p>BLOOD, DEATH, TRAUMATIC EVENT, FIRE</p><p>BE WARNED!</p><p>(4/4/21 update, formatting. applies to all chapters. YW)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Wilbur’s hand was shaking violently, his eyes spoke of horror.</p><p>“Wilbur, what are you going on about?”</p><p>The musician froze, still terrified. Carefully, he relaxed his grip with a breath, and stepped back from the two boys. He clutched at his sweater’s collar, and stifled with his words.</p><p>“I… I’m sorry for scaring you. But please, be careful. Something horrible is going to happen soon, I can feel it.”</p><p>“Are you actually a prophet or something?” his friend questioned loudly.</p><p>The man sighed.</p><p>“It’s something only pebble dragons can do. With halves, we can only do it in specific ways. Mine is music. That’s why I come here, to keep you safe.”</p><p>Tommy was dumbfounded.</p><p>The shaking musician stared intensely at Tommy once again, his eyes practically burning a hole in Tommy’s face.</p><p>“They’re all about you, Tommy. You and Tubbo.”</p><p>“What?” The boys exclaimed in unison.</p><p>“That’s why you were givin’ me the damn chills this whole time! Your bloody prophecy’s been on my back this whole fkn’ time!”</p><p>“Wait,” Tubbo shivered, “what does that song mean then? You were talking about fire and protecting and- why did you stop?”</p><p>“I’m sorry Tubbo, I can’t explain the song once I’ve already sung it. Just-” Wilbur stopped, staring at the ground with a hand half covering his mouth. He kept shaking and fumbling, until finally, he managed to utter “just be safe please. Find me when it happens.”</p><p>“Why can’t you just take us with you?” Tommy asked bluntly.</p><p>Wilbur chuckled dryly.</p><p>“I barely have the money to keep myself afloat, let alone two kids. Doesn’t matter if you’re 16, I’d be a sht guardian for you.” He sighed. “I’d take you with me otherwise,” he mumbled softly. “Besides, I don’t know when the prophecy will happen. I just hope that when it does, I’m able to help you.”</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>That night, Tommy couldn’t sleep. From the sounds of it, nor could Tubbo. He seemed to be trying to keep quiet with the sudden thumps, but it was proving to be difficult with his thicker tail.</p><p>In the aftermath, Wilbur ended up staying in the main hall for the night. It was a typical payment for the performances he put on, which he continued after the discussion they had. No matter how much him and Tubbo listened, the song didn’t sound like any sort of prophecy to Tommy.</p><p>The whole situation made him feel uneasy. He didn’t want to think about what had happened a few hours ago, he just wanted to sleep and live his life in peace. At least he still had his friend.</p><p>“Hey Tubbo,” Tommy whispered, “are you awake?”</p><p>“How could I sleep?”</p><p>“I dunno. ‘S why I’m still awake.” It was painfully obvious that the two were thinking about the same thing. It would be hanging over their heads for the foreseeable future, after all.</p><p>Wilbur’s ominous song wouldn’t leave anytime soon.</p><p>“... I think I figured out what’s gonna happen,” Tubbo quivered.</p><p>“Well?”</p><p>“I don’t like it, Tommy. Not at all.”</p><p>“I’ve got no clue as to what it could be. All I can think about was how horrified Wilbur looked.” Tommy paused, seeing the pebble man’s frantic eyes whenever he closed his own. “What’s your theory?”</p><p>Tubbo began to speak but choked on his words, a little too hard. Tommy realized that his best friend was sniffling now.</p><p>“Tubbo, don’t fkn’ cry.” He sighed before wading through the dark and wrapping his arms around his weeping friend. With a steady flick, Tommy wrapped his wings around them both. A soft warmth began to flow from beneath his shining scales.</p><p>It was a nice perk of being a Ruby half. Supposedly the protectors. That’s why the heat is so lackluster, it’s not supposed to burn. It sure was damn comforting though.</p><p>The heat was tiring to put out, but Tommy didn’t care. It was night time anyways, and Tubbo said many times before that he found the temperature comforting.</p><p>Despite this, when Tubbo shifted his hands from his face, it glistened with tears.</p><p>“I think our home is going to burn.”</p><p>Tommy stiffened, and the warmth from his wings halted. It resumed once he thought out his response.</p><p>“Even if it does burn, we’ll make it. We’ll find a way. Dumb music prophecy or not.”</p><p>Tubbo sighed shakily and put his pale yellow wings up to Tommy’s.</p><p>“I hope so. I really fkn’ hope so.”</p><p>He didn’t want to think about that stupid song anymore. For now, simply sleeping in his own soft heat was the simplicity he wanted. With Tubbo, of course.</p><p>The two friends stayed tangled, their consciousnesses eventually fading into the night. It was a deceptively calm slumber, and it was the best they’d get for a while.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>A small scent of smoke wafted through the air, accompanied by screams. Smoke?</p><p>“TUBBO!”</p><p>Tommy jolted awake, snatching his friend from slumber as well.</p><p>The world around them was falling to cinders. </p><p>Tubbo yelped.</p><p>The room they had known for so many years now had a black portal to the outside that replaced their now shattered window. Their neat pile of clean clothes had now erupted into a pillar of flame. Heat blasted from beneath the door. Good thing Tommy was a Ruby.</p><p>“Tubbo, stay close. STAY CLOSE!” In response, his friend tightly gripped his wrist and pulled in his pale wings, which appeared to be orange against the firelight.</p><p>Tubbo’s face was contorted into fear when Tommy saw it. He always hated seeing that.</p><p>He spread his wings around them once more, ramming into the door. It stung, bad. There were definitely some Ruby scales on the ground as well. Tommy didn’t have time to worry about the unsettling cracking noise it made though. They passed the snipping fire unharmed otherwise.</p><p>“Tommy lookup! There’s Wilbur!” The hole in the ceiling was lined with black and orange, revealing the silhouette of the grey scaled musician. He seemed to flicker around the night sky frantically.</p><p>“We need to hurry and get out! He can’t see us inside of here!”</p><p>The two hurried into the main hall to see their world even further torn to shreds.</p><p>In the typically empty entrance stood brigades of humans gripping torches and large pointy objects. Most of the other children were here as well. So many of them were on the ground, blood pooling around them. Most of them were shrieking. It wasn’t the usual shriek of joy they’d let out while playing.</p><p>It was so soul crushingly different.</p><p>Mrs. Grahn was nowhere to be found. The hall was a mess of scales and blood, with humans centering it all. There was almost some sort of twisted delight on their faces</p><p>Something inside him screamed to do something, but he couldn’t. Not with Wilbur’s eerie warning still echoing through his mind.</p><p>Stumbling towards the back door that was thankfully unblocked by debris, Tommy and Tubbo managed to escape the building without being noticed.</p><p>They stumbled up the hill with the tree on it. One of the branches had begun to smolder.</p><p>Everything here was destined to die.</p><p>They scoured the greying sky once again for Wilbur. Tubbo must have spotted him through the smoke, as he called out for their friend. Instantly, the grey winged figure paused in their direction, and started for them. In his flight down, he seemed to wobble suddenly, and he nearly crashed into the two.</p><p>“Don’t you know how to fly you btch?” Tommy shrieked. He quickly regretted his words. Wilbur’s typically grey wings were now spotted with red instead of blue, a large spot of crimson planted just to the side of his arm.</p><p>“Fk, fk, fk, I can’t fking fly now.” Wilbur was shaking violently. “We need to get as far away from here as we can, now.” the musician steadied.</p><p>“But what about everyone else?” Tubbo pleaded.</p><p>“Tubbo, we don’t have time. The prophecy said… the prophecy said… the humans, they found this place. They fking shot me Tubbo, I can’t fking fly.”</p><p>The only option was to flee into the forest.</p><p>They hoped that the flames and humans wouldn’t spread there as well.</p><p>What they would leave behind would surely claw its way into their heads. The shrill screams of dying children echoing through their skills.</p><p>All three of them felt this.</p><p>None of them wanted this.</p><p>They ran for an eternity, the sound of crunching leaves and hurried breaths was the only thing Tommy could remember hearing besides his rapid heartbeats. It must have taken hours to get out as far as they did, as the sky had turned back to a dark blue.</p><p>At some point, Wilbur wheezed out an unheard request, causing the other two to slow to a halt.</p><p>He looked pale and his eyes dragged at his face, it was surprising that he didn’t just fall over in that moment. A few coughs hit his hand.</p><p>Tubbo wordlessly began to support the bleeding pebble man.</p><p><em> Guess it’s my job to find a place to sleep, </em> Tommy thought while scouring the surrounding vegetation.</p><p>He spotted a bed of flowers in a ditch, somewhat secluded by a few bushes. He showed the spot to Tubbo, and the two worked together to lay their friend within the ditch.</p><p>“... please take this fking arrow out of my wing already,” Wilbur wheezed.</p><p>Tubbo shuffled nervously before bending down towards the crimson plastering his outstretched grey wing. The bleeding had nearly stopped, and some of the blood was dark red now. At some point during the night, Wilbur had removed the wooden portion of the arrow.</p><p>With a firm grip, Tubbo yanked at the arrowhead with as much force as he could muster, slicing up his own hand in the process.</p><p>Tommy winced. At least the arrowhead was out. They’d have to patch it up before they slept for the second time tonight.</p><p>Wilbur gave a sigh of relief. Reaching into his pocket, he removed a strange metal object Tommy had never seen before. Wil passed it to him, not realizing this.</p><p>“Drink.”</p><p>The sloshing sounds within informed Tommy that the contents were in fact liquid, likely water.</p><p>“Shouldn’t he have some first?” Tubbo gestured at Wilbur weakly. Of the three of them, it was painfully obvious that Wilbur was in the worst shape. Tommy’s wing wouldn’t move right anymore and it hurt way too much to not be broken, but at least he wasn’t in danger of bleeding out.</p><p>Instead of drinking from the object himself, he handed it back to Wilbur.</p><p>“You should have some first.”</p><p>Wilbur gave a weak laugh before reluctantly taking the first sip.</p><p>“Ruby” he muttered under his breath just barely loud enough for Tommy to hear.</p><p>He was too exhausted to protest. He wasn’t a protector of any kind. He didn’t even feel like he was supposed to be a ruby. Just a kid looking for a family.</p><p>A kid who had lost his home.</p><p>
  <em> What a cursed world. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> What a damn cursed world. </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>(OLD) Hey soo uhh chapter 3 is going to be really short so I'll try to publish it at the same time as chapter 4. Chapters are also getting much longer, I've just written the RD of two 10 page chapters lol. For reference, Chapter 1 and 2 take up 11 1/2 pages. So uhh yeah, they gettin long. You also have to take into account that once those are finalized they'll be longer.</p><p>Lotsa content!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Take a sip</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>No content warnings this time!</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>(4/4/21 update, formatting. Applies to all chapters. YW)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A pale log clunked into the fireplace, soon to catch alight.</p>
<p>Behind him was a creaking sound, followed by heavy plunks against the floor. He turned to see his friend carrying a plate with two steaming cups on it.</p>
<p>“Ah, thank you, Techno.”</p>
<p>The quartz half nodded, placing one cup into Phil’s hand before taking his own.</p>
<p>The two shuffled towards their plush chairs before having a sip.</p>
<p>“You really are better at this than I am,” Phil said with an exhale. “I can’t figure out how you do it.”</p>
<p>As usual, Techno didn’t respond. Phil was alright with that.</p>
<p>“I’ve been thinking a bit,” he said after another sip. “About the war.”</p>
<p>Techno paused, his eyes narrowed.</p>
<p>“I know, I don’t want to take part either. Especially not with <em> my </em>scales.” Phil took a small moment to think up his next words to avoid upsetting his friend. “There’s lots of people out there who don’t want to fight, and just need help.”</p>
<p>“What are you implying?” Techno questioned in his typical monotone voice.</p>
<p>“I don’t want us to take part. But I can’t stop thinking about the halves out there who can’t survive because of this. They need our help.”</p>
<p>Techno sighed. Phil knew how he felt about fighting, that’s why he was here in the first place. All he wanted to do was peacefully protect those in need, no fighting required. He knew that a fight was still a possibility, but the thoughts of innocent halves being troubled by a war they aren’t a part of kept Phil up at night.</p>
<p>Just this morning he had woken up in a cold sweat from a dream he didn’t want to remember.</p>
<p>“This isn’t so simple, Phil.” Techno glanced at his own scales.</p>
<p>
  <em> Poor guy. </em>
</p>
<p>Phil recalled the damage Techno had caused. His rage sent legends sprinting across the land about a pink scaled demon man. The poor man wouldn’t be allowed anywhere because of it. Oh, how they were wrong.</p>
<p>“I know you’re afraid, but I have to do something. I can’t sleep thinking about those people.” Worry dashed across the quartz’s face.</p>
<p>He took his time to think, he always does. After a few moments of silence, he spoke again.</p>
<p>“I trust you, Phil.”</p>
<p>He wasn’t sure if the reply was genuine.</p>
<p>“You could always stay behind if you want to, I won’t force you to go,” Phil offered with concern.</p>
<p>“No, no you can’t go alone,” Techno replied instantly. “I’ll go with you, it’s fine. You said it yourself, your scales could get you in trouble. I won’t leave you with that.”</p>
<p>“You know I’m worried about you. You’ve done so well here, but I don’t know if you should go back out yet.”</p>
<p>In response, his friend opened up his pale pink wings. His scales shone, putting off a soothing aura. Phil chuckled and cooed. Techno only did this to comfort Phil, as it hardly affected himself. Phil smiled, half opening his own wings in response.</p>
<p>Maybe they could help a few people undisturbed, together.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Eyyy! Phil and Techno got introduced this chapter! I know I said I'd probably post chapter 3 and 4 together, but I decided against that. DON'T WORRY IT SHOULD BE OUT TOMORROW THOUGH! TBH chapter 3 is really awkward. I can't slap it on the beginning of chapter 4, and its far too late to slap it onto the end of chapter 2.</p>
<p>Today is the 1 week anniversary of when I started writing this! Its looking to be ~15-20 chapters long so far, but at the time I'm still working on the drafts for chapter 8 so I'm not totally sure.</p>
<p>The stuff I've got planned for later is going to be so cool, I'm super excited to get it out!</p>
<p>You might be worried about me getting burnout (I kinda wrote 56 pages in 1 week), but I'm trying to take steps to avoid it. I've got a solid plan for the middle and end, and the beginning is already written out. I'm excited to finish a project like this and depending on how I feel after this I could make another, but I've got no ideas so far since I'm focusing on this one lol.</p>
<p>Anyways, I hope you enjoyed! I'll hit you with chapter 4 ASAP!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Dirt Road</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Content warnings:<br/>Slight blood, injuries</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>(4/4/21 update, formatting. Applies to all chapters, except chapter 5 cause Imma update that one on its own. YW.)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The world formed around Tommy in slow blinks and a jolt.</p>
<p>He wasn’t inside anymore. Nor was Tubbo. Wilbur was here, in the ditch next to them. He had to remember last night. No more home. At least he still had his friend.</p>
<p>They were tangled together like they usually were when Tubbo was stressed. Maybe Tommy too, but he’d never admit to it.</p>
<p>Once the shock wore off, a droopy feeling plunked onto Tommy. He had been trying to heat up the three of them all night, so he was just as drained as when he sat to sleep.</p>
<p>
  <em> Fk. </em>
</p>
<p>It didn’t help that his bones ached from the ground. To make matters worse, his broken wing only stung more.</p>
<p>Tubbo was still asleep, snoring loudly behind that pale wing of his. Unfortunately, as is usual with these entanglements, Tubbo’s tail was crushing Tommy’s, preventing him from leaving undisturbed. Still, he tried, slowly pulling his Ruby scales out. He shivered. The dirt did <em> not </em> feel good on his tail. Holding back a yelp, the last of his tail slithered off the ground.</p>
<p>Everything was dirty. It was before, but more so now. Tubbo’s shirt had a long strip torn from the bottom and one of his sleeves was halfway gone. He had used part of it to patch up his hand, and the rest to cover up Wilbur’s wound.</p>
<p>Speaking of Wilbur, his breathing was mostly normal now. Still a little labored, but much better than last night. A messy patch of fabric was placed over the blood from last night. Tommy didn’t want to inspect it, especially while Tubbo is asleep. His friend had cleaned it last night, but he wasn’t sure how many days it would take to heal.</p>
<p>Tubbo had always been the one to help Mrs. Grahn- <em> who is probably dead now </em>- when a kid got injured.</p>
<p>
  <em> Sht, how many of us died last night? </em>
</p>
<p>It wasn’t the time to think about that.</p>
<p>“Tommy?” Wilbur still sounded somewhat weak, although that could be sleep still tugging at him.</p>
<p>“Wilbur?”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry.” Wilbur’s voice shook. “If I could’ve kept a level head, maybe things would be a little different.”</p>
<p>Tommy took a deep breath before replying.</p>
<p>“Let’s just go forwards, huh? I want things to be normal again soon.”</p>
<p>Wilbur gave a dry chuckle.</p>
<p>“Nothing’s gonna be normal for a while, Tommy. The half friendly towns over here are all getting burned to the fking ground.” Wilbur’s voice got serious, “It's going to be hard, Tommy, but I promise you, we’ll make it.”</p>
<p>Tommy stayed quiet. He didn’t even realize that half friendly towns existed. The fact that they were getting destroyed because of the war was difficult to swallow.</p>
<p>Wilbur spoke again, this time much closer to his original voice.</p>
<p>“I reckon I can try to get us some money. Still got my music.” He paused before continuing. “I’m sure there’s a town this way, and I think I know someone there.”</p>
<p>“Wil, how the fk are you going to sneak into a human town with your wing like that?”</p>
<p>“Give it a few more hours.”</p>
<p>What did he mean by that? A hole like that doesn’t just disappear within a day!</p>
<p>Wilbur gave him a confused look, then gestured for him to come closer.</p>
<p>To Tommy’s dismay, Wilbur lifted the cloth and- oddly enough, the hole was less than the size of a pinky finger now.</p>
<p>“Why are you so shocked?”</p>
<p>“How did that take so little time to heal so much?”</p>
<p>Wilbur snickered.</p>
<p>“Tommy, do you not know? We’re dragons. Dragons are reptiles. Reptiles, if you didn’t know, can regenerate very fast,” Wilbur explained. “Since we’re technically half reptile, we get some of that in our scales.”</p>
<p>Tommy was dumbfounded.</p>
<p>“Well it’s not my fkn’ fault that Tubbo’s the one who did all the medicine crap!”</p>
<p>The shout seemed to have woken up Tubbo, as he blearily groaned, “Maybe yesterday shouldn’t have been different!”</p>
<p>His friend wiped the sleep from his eyes, then continued in a more stable voice. “How’d you not realize we were reptiles?”</p>
<p>“I dunno! I just didn’t really think about it! It’s not the thing I’d want to think about every single damn day!”</p>
<p>“Boys, boys,” Wilbur interjected. “Calm down. We’re going to find a town, and I’ll buy us some food. Won’t be much though.”</p>
<p>The two quieted. <em> Going into town, huh? </em></p>
<p>It wouldn’t be an easy task. Tommy didn’t even know how to hide, especially not with his wing broken. </p>
<p>“Let’s go meet my friend Niki.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>-</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In the distance, the trees appeared to thin, revealing small buildings in the distance. Wilbur was almost completely healed now, trudging next to the boys with hardly any problems. His wings were folded normally, but were reduced to a transparent grey outline protruding from his back. Wilbur had explained a little about it earlier.</p>
<p>Apparently, wings being an outline or being actual wings wasn’t a mood thing. It was something you could control, but that wasn’t going to work against humans all the time. In the day time, it was much more difficult to see, but with shade, it was quite obvious. This was helpful if someone couldn’t pull their wings in, say, if they had been shot by an arrow. If something like a bandage was still on though, it would fall off. That’s because <em> apparently </em> the outlines could just pass through most material. Tommy thought that was weird. Something else about the outline that the boys didn’t realize was that the tail did it too, and so did Wilbur and Tubbo’s horns. Wilbur kept giving them strange looks while explaining all of this.</p>
<p>“It’s like you don’t know anything about yourselves,” he had said.</p>
<p>Of course they didn’t know much about themselves, they were raised by a human. She didn’t know <em> sht </em>about halves other than the fact that they have mild abilities.</p>
<p>And then there was ‘Niki’.</p>
<p>Wilbur claimed that his half friend managed to hide out in the town that they were headed towards. Wilbur had also explained that during his recent visit, she offered to lead Wilbur to a town safe for halves, but he declined. Supposedly she had yet to leave.</p>
<p>As they neared the town, Wilbur slowed.</p>
<p>“Hit the path first, we don’t want to cause suspicion.”</p>
<p>The path leading into the town was padded down by countless footprints. One of the sharp metal things Tommy had seen last night was laying in the grass. He looked away as soon as he saw it. He didn’t like thinking about last night.</p>
<p>“Kinda weird that the sunlight hides the outlines, huh? I’d never noticed that before,” Tubbo chirped.</p>
<p>“Yeah, me either, I didn’t realize there was a way without pulling ‘em in.” Tommy reduced to a whisper. “You think this Niki person’s alright?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, Wilbur trusts her,” his friend whispered back.</p>
<p>“I can still hear you both,” Wilbur stated flatly. “She’s not a threat, I promise. Now keep your scales close.”</p>
<p>Within a minute, the three had arrived within the town.</p>
<p>Wil didn’t have a name for it.</p>
<p>It was dotted with wooden stalls and various styles of buildings, all with their own markings and letters. Tommy could vaguely understand what the signs said. Humans were sparingly sprinkled throughout the town, and a quiet conversation seemed to mumble all around the place. It wasn’t busy, and it wasn’t too quiet either. That didn’t make it feel any less uneasy though, they were still halves in a human town afterall.</p>
<p>The musician stepped with haste, and the boys had to adjust speed quickly so as to not lose him. When he finally slowed, they arrived at a large wooden building that smelled of way too many humans. The town was a lot, but sheesh, this was intense. Wilbur didn’t seem to mind.</p>
<p>When they entered, the sunlight seemed to follow them. Large windows lined the entire room they stood in, concealing the outlines that would have been visible. Some tables and chairs were scattered around the large room, with a handful of humans quietly meandering about. A fireplace sat at one of the walls, still smoldering from a previous ignition.</p>
<p>Wilbur had a quick word with a rather plump man behind the counter, before a pale haired woman entered from an oddly square wooden hill. She looked at the Wilbur with silent surprise, before hurrying to a table in an empty corner. Wilbur gestured towards Tommy and Tubbo to follow, before walking after her.</p>
<p>“Wilbur? What brings you back here?” She wondered in a hushed voice. “Who are they?”</p>
<p>“Good to see you again, Niki. These are the boys I was talking to you about, Tommy and Tubbo,” Wilbur replied in a similarly hushed voice.</p>
<p>“Wait, you got the money to take them?” The woman who likely was called Niki furrowed her brow.</p>
<p>“No,” Wilbur had said quietly after a sharp breath.</p>
<p>“Oh…” her eyes drooped. “Is there anything I can do?”</p>
<p>“You were talking about moving towns,” Wilbur said quietly.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, but I can’t take more than one person with me. They hardly even have space for me, Wil. Two people is pushing it past the limit, but to add two teenagers? It wouldn’t work. I don’t want you to get turned away after such a dangerous journey.”</p>
<p>Wilbur stayed silent for a few moments.</p>
<p>“It’s alright. We’ll find another way.” He mumbled. “In the meantime, are you in the mood for a song?”</p>
<p>“No,” Tommy said through gritted teeth, “I am not in the mood for another one of your fkn prophecies!”</p>
<p>“Relax, Tommy. They don’t always pertain to us. Hell, not all of them are about anything anyways. Besides, I think you’d agree that a little more coin would help.”</p>
<p>Tommy huffed and backed down. “Didn’t exactly work out last time,” he mumbled under his breath.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>-</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The song vibrated throughout the town, and most people had their eyes on Wilbur.</p>
<p>He had told Tommy and Tubbo to stay with Niki, even if Tommy didn’t particularly want to. He couldn’t help but listen to Wilbur’s song.</p>
<p>He was right, this one didn’t have anything to do with Tommy, Tubbo, Wilbur, or even Niki. It was instead about a boy running through a forest and finding an empty cabin. The line ‘<em> a dark journey to take </em>’ had been repeated too many times to not mean something. It was strange, Tommy couldn’t tell if this song was prophetic or not.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>-</p>
<p> </p>
<p>
  <em> No. No. No. </em>
</p>
<p>He couldn’t stop running.</p>
<p>Not when the yelling and shouting was still happening. Not when so many footsteps still pounded at the ground behind him.</p>
<p>He paid no mind to the leaves whipping and slicing at his face. He didn’t hear the squelching of mud seeping into his shoes. His stinging knees were only partially noticed. The only thing truly on his mind was keeping his legs moving.</p>
<p>
  <em> Maybe I could try to fly? </em>
</p>
<p>No, he couldn’t. The forest was too dark and too thick to fly, let alone for the first time. For now, running would have to work.</p>
<p>Were the voices getting smaller? Perhaps he had lost them? No time to think, only time to run. Even if his legs were too tired to run a long time ago. The voices were faint now. He had to listen hard to hear them. Maybe he could stop to take a breath?</p>
<p>
  <em> No. I can’t. I learned that last time. </em>
</p>
<p>At some point his foot caught a poorly placed root, and he was too dazed to try and stop the fall. Before he could get up and wipe the mud off his face, a realization hit him.</p>
<p>
  <em> The voices are gone. I lost them. Did I? I hope so. </em>
</p>
<p>But nothing could prepare him for the sight he would behold.</p>
<p>A dark brown log cabin towered over him, windows dark and unoccupied. He couldn’t believe it, but after stepping to the side of the home, he could. A cozy chair moved only by the wind, and the dark wooded door practically begged to be opened.</p>
<p>With no other options, he staggered towards the door.</p>
<p>The knob turned before he could realize what he was doing, but to his surprise, nothing stirred within the cabin. It was as if it didn’t even realize he had entered. Two chairs sat by a fireplace that hadn’t been used in some time. Everything was put away. Nobody was here. Realizing that the home had likely been abandoned gave him a spark of hope.</p>
<p>Maybe he could live here? He could have a home, undisturbed by others, and free of hiding.</p>
<p>With this came another realization, there would be a bed here. Possibly a comfortable one.</p>
<p>Shuffling into one room revealed that there was indeed a comfortable bed. It had been carefully and neatly made, with a warmth simply radiating from the sight of it. Stepping towards the bed, he fell into the cold sheets. It was comfortable to someone as exhausted as him. It felt more welcoming than anything he had ever felt in his life.</p>
<p>But sleep wouldn’t claim him as fast as he would’ve liked it to.</p>
<p>He remembered seeing seas of white.</p>
<p>Seas of hatred.</p>
<p>It was a horrifying image.</p>
<p>One moment, dull greys. A few specks of light grey. Everything was calm. Uneasy, but calm. In the next, it all swirled into white. A searing, blazing white.</p>
<p>The thought forced him to open his heavy eyes out of fear that he wasn’t safe.</p>
<p>No, he was still in this lucky cabin. He was still safe, wrapped up in a stranger’s blanket, in a stranger’s bed.</p>
<p>Safe for now.</p>
<p>Hopefully forever.</p>
<p>He never wanted to see the color white again, but he knew he’d encounter it eventually. When at long last sleep took ahold of him, he was burdened by a dream.</p>
<p>A ruby.</p>
<p>A flower.</p>
<p>A pebble.</p>
<p>A pink crystal.</p>
<p>The night sky.</p>
<p>And oddly enough, himself.</p>
<p>It all cut to black.</p>
<p>Black, oh how he missed that color.</p>
<p>A figure sat far in the distance, barely recognizable as a half. </p>
<p>He was made up of odd colors. Black at the top. Yellow in the middle. He held a black object, rubbing it with his fingertips. It made a calming noise. Slowly, a pair of wings spread out from the figure. They stretched and stretched, and it seemed like the person was getting closer, very slowly.</p>
<p>A soft voice seeped out from the figure.</p>
<p>It was unfamiliar, but comforting. He never saw its eyes, but he somehow knew they were welcoming.</p>
<p>It told him words.</p>
<p>So many words, but only a few stuck with him.</p>
<p>
  <em> A dark journey to take. </em>
</p>
<p>If only he could remember the rest.</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Hey, another character got introduced! Niki and a currently unnamed character! I wouldn't be shocked if some of you already figured out who it is, lol.</p>
<p>In other news, I set up a Discord! I don't expect many people to join, but it'll be a small and fun little hang out spot.<br/>(link shouldn't expire anymore, sorry about that!)</p>
<p>https://discord.gg/6DX2ftjPgc</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Walking with Demons</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Chapter has been updated as of 4/7/21, please read the update! Chapter 6 will be out in a few days (HOPEFULLY).</p>
<p>!!!CONTENT WARNINGS!!!</p>
<p>Blood, violence, fire.</p>
<p>YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED, BE CAUTIOUS!!!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Evening had crept upon the town.</p>
<p>Wilbur had made a bit of money from his performance earlier, enough to buy two loaves of bread for the three of them, which were split oddly.They had to sit in the dirt of the town’s outskirts in order to stay safe while Wilbur attended to some business. Niki was there, which Tommy didn’t appreciate. Seriously, something seemed odd about her. He could have sworn he had seen the girl’s cold eyes flicker with white every now and then, and it was very unsettling. Tubbo spent some of his time desperately trying to grow a strawberry, but nearly passed out instead. All he got was a little leaf to sprout from the ground, and of course Tommy had to carry him to meet back up with Wilbur. Niki offered to help, but Tommy didn’t trust her and insisted on doing it himself.</p>
<p>Overall, Tommy wasn’t a fan of her.</p>
<p>She was weird and creepy and Tommy didn’t understand why Wilbur was friends with her.</p>
<p>Since the sun was setting, they had to be inside with light. Tommy and Tubbo were sitting just beside a fireplace within the strange building from before, Tubbo leaning on his shoulder.</p>
<p>
  <em> Damn flower boy had to try growing a full plant in one day, huh? Stupid. </em>
</p>
<p>At least he wasn’t resting on the same shoulder that had his broken wing.</p>
<p>As his mind drifted off, he thought of the Quartz Demon.</p>
<p>He had heard of it from a few places. There was an older kid at the orphanage who knew the tale, as well as a misplaced book or two. At the time, the idea of a vengeful half warrior was exciting to Tommy’s dull life, but now it was a reality he wanted nothing to do with. It was unclear specifically what it was, too. It could have been a myth, a rumor, a legend, or maybe a real story. </p>
<p>Either way, the man it depicted was utterly terrifying.</p>
<p>He was said to be more dragon than human, towering over all. Some versions of the story said he was 7 feet tall, others said he was 10, and the more mythical ones said he was as tall as the sky itself. The Quartz demon was said to have pale pink shimmering scales in a twisted sense of innocence, as he himself could slay armies in a single swipe. Stories told of the demon appearing like elegant royalty and killing like a hoard of bloodthirsty dragons.</p>
<p>Each version of the tale painted him with a different weapon. The demon could beat a man’s face in with nothing but his fists, he could chop a village into pieces with just one axe, he could slice an army into bits with a night colored sword, and one version even claimed he had large white claws. Of course, that version included a graphic depiction of him using said claws to continuously stab someone to death, but that wasn’t important.</p>
<p>What was important was the singular consistent detail of the Quartz Demon- his crimson eyes. Many of the stories had pointed out how his eyes were unnervingly similar in color to the blood typically smeared across his face.</p>
<p>Rage was another mostly consistent detail- the demon was either a furious wind of death and anger or a cold hearted butcher.</p>
<p>Either way, the stories of a pink quartz dragon creating piles of corpses all across the land were guaranteed to unsettle anyone, including Tommy. He didn’t know why such a chilling topic was what he decided to think about.</p>
<p>The only thing that could make his life worse right now was an encounter with this murderer.</p>
<p>Behind the door beside them, Wilbur and Niki were hushedly discussing something. It sounded important. Tommy decided to listen to them instead of his thoughts about the demon.</p>
<p>“... I don’t know!” That was Niki’s voice. It shuffled around behind him hurriedly.</p>
<p>“We should have been more careful.” That was Wilbur’s voice. What was he upset about?</p>
<p>“I can’t stay here for another night. I’m sorry, but I have to go.”</p>
<p>“You’re really certain about this? You’re sure it’s not just a false rumor?” Wil was properly worried about whatever ‘this’ was.</p>
<p>“I’m sure of it. They couldn’t have been talking about anyone else, and…” Niki’s voice trailed off. She was still speaking, but Tommy couldn’t tell what she was saying anymore.</p>
<p>Wilbur sighed.</p>
<p>“I wish you luck, Niki.” Wilbur’s voice was closer to the door now.</p>
<p>“Thank you. I hope you and those boys can get somewhere safe.”</p>
<p>A creak sounded beside them, and Wilbur stepped into view. Tubbo gently lifted his head from Tommy’s shoulder.</p>
<p>“Wil? What’s goin on?” He asked.</p>
<p>“Sorry Tubbo, we’ve got to leave this town a little sooner than I’d like to. It’s not safe anymore.”</p>
<p>Tubbo whined, but still got up to stretch.</p>
<p>“Fks sake, we’re not sleeping in the forest again, are we?”</p>
<p>“Unfortunately I don’t think we have a choice, Tubbo.” Tommy replied.</p>
<p>Niki exited the room as well, a bag now slung over her shoulder.</p>
<p>“Safe travels, Wilbur.” She mumbled.</p>
<p>“You too.”</p>
<p>Tommy sighed.</p>
<p>Of course they’d have to keep looking. He didn’t want to be a ratty orphan wandering around in the middle of a war. He just wanted a family. He just wanted to feel safe and have a place that felt like home. Was that too much to ask? For now, all he had was Wilbur and Tubbo.</p>
<p>He stood up to join them on the way out of the building. Wilbur led the way.</p>
<p>Wait, why did he stop so suddenly?</p>
<p>Tommy peered around the pebble man’s arm, and to his horror, he saw a human. A very unhappy looking human, carrying a sharp object. Slightly in front of him, he heard a yelp from Niki.</p>
<p>“Uhm, hello sir!” Wil stammered. “Me and these poor boys were just gonna leave town, is that alright?”</p>
<p>Tommy’s heart sank. The humans discovered them, hadn't they? That must have been what Wilbur and Niki were talking about. They just didn’t leave before the humans had found them. How had it even happened?</p>
<p>Shouting erupted around them. Somewhere in front of them, wind whipped, and a pale haired woman took to the air in a panic. They watched in horror as little arrows pierced the orange sky in an attempt to bloody her skin and scales. She dodged, zipping around the sky before flying out of reach.</p>
<p>Wilbur stepped back, his hand shot in front of Tommy and Tubbo. With his other hand, he reached inside of his coat and grabbed a small knife in an attempt to pose some sort of threat. The human charged forwards with his larger tool in a scowl, forcing the three back inside the building as more humans snaked in.</p>
<p>“In the room, NOW!”</p>
<p>Wilbur didn’t have to say it twice, as Tommy and Tubbo scrambled towards the door the instant he spoke.</p>
<p>Wil must have ran after them a slight bit later, as he arrived just in time to shut the door. However, a furious human face appeared in the window beside them, and sent a flame into the room with a crash. A hole burnt into the wall where the human was, and more and more of them began to slither inside with their sharp objects. So much hatred was slathered on their faces, it shook Tommy to the core.</p>
<p>Smoke instantly began to fill the room, stinging Tommy’s throat. Tubbo even let out a wretched cough beside him. Tears flew down his friend’s face, and a whimper shoved its way out of his throat. The feeling of impending doom gripped them both. All three of them. It was obvious in the sweat beading on their foreheads and the fact that nobody could seem to catch their breath.</p>
<p>To make matters worse, the door Wilbur had closed had now burst open, allowing more humans and their filthy yelling to plague the room around them. History is repeating itself, isn’t it? Threats encased them and kept on closing in, eerily similar to the orphanage hall. It’s happening again. Images of the previous night plagued Tommy’s mind, but this time there wasn’t anywhere to run. Nowhere to go. No person to save them. No way out.</p>
<p>It’s over.</p>
<p>It’s over.</p>
<p>It’s over.</p>
<p>Wilbur’s wings covered everything now. A small enclosure that served as a desperate attempt to delay the inevitable. That, or a final goodbye. That would explain the wetness on Tommy’s shoulder.</p>
<p>It truly felt like the end had sprung upon them.</p>
<p>Tommy wanted to do everything in his power to say, “no, I’m not done yet!” but the time for that had passed. No sort of plea or fight could work anymore. It would take a miracle for any of them to survive, and the world wasn’t keen on giving those to Tommy. This would, for better or for worse, be the only family Tommy would ever have. To ask for more was against the universe. Against the humans.</p>
<p>He hugged Tubbo and Wilbur with all his might. Whether it was for comfort or one last rage against the universe was up to chance.</p>
<p>Suddenly, there was a flash of pink.</p>
<p>Humans around them shouted- no, <em> screamed </em> , at whatever it was. With a miracle, the humans were actually <em> running </em>.</p>
<p>A miracle that the universe had finally sent their way.</p>
<p>Wilbur let his wings down to look at the commotion, and suddenly Tommy couldn’t breathe.</p>
<p>“The quartz demon!” Tubbo exclaimed.</p>
<p>Sure enough, the imposing figure of a pink quartz half was outside the building. Crimson had splashed on his brown coat, and giant glittering wings spanned behind him. He was roaring something inaudible at the humans while threatening everything in sight with a bloodied black sword. Another half, who was clearly older, flapped down to meet him. He looked at him face to face and shouted something at the quartz, which somehow stopped this. It was like the older half had an control over this demon.</p>
<p>And then the quartz demon laid his crimson eyes on Tommy.</p>
<p>It was terrifying! A legend, soaked in blood, carrying a large weapon, looking directly at him. The demon was frighteningly tall, too, even from inside it was obvious that he beat out Wilbur in height by a frightening amount. Tommy and Tubbo were just children! They would die after all, to the horrifying Quartz Demon! This wasn’t a miracle at all, it was a worsening of his sentence!</p>
<p>But something felt off about that thought. He seemed slightly different from all of the stories.</p>
<p>The older half found where the quartz was looking, and lept in shock. He seemed frantic as he hurried through the flaming wall, with the quartz demon following him.</p>
<p>“Jeez, they’d even attack children? I’m glad we came after all!” The older half said while waving his hands around in a panic, trying to avoid the fire. “Let’s get out of here, and quick! Can you all fly?”</p>
<p>“I don’t think they can,” the quartz demon said with a disorientingly monotone voice while pointing to the outline of Tommy’s broken wing. How had he noticed but nobody else could?</p>
<p>“Wait, we can come with you?” Wilbur asked hopefully, blissfully unaware of how dangerous these two could be.</p>
<p>“Of course! I’m not just gonna leave you! We’ve got to hurry out now, before this place gets any worse!”</p>
<p>He had no choice but to follow the quartz demon and his friend, but at least it was to safety, for now.</p>
<p>They’d get to live another day.</p>
<p>He’d get another shot.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>After escaping the flames, the five had made it out of town and onto a darkened path. This area was quiet, with the occasional tree standing against the night sky. They all took some time to catch their breath before attending to the obvious. The Quartz Demon was noticeably quiet throughout most of it, in contrast to the aggressive shouting that took place back at the town.</p>
<p>Wilbur sounded awful. His recovering breaths quickly devolved into a coughing fit that was actually scary. Tommy didn’t know if he’d ever stop, but after the older half gave Wilbur a few pats, he finally slowed to a stop. This only made the older half more suspicious. Not only did he associate with the Quartz demon and have an odd control over him, but he also made Wilbur’s seemingly endless coughing fit subside.</p>
<p>Wilbur broke the wordlessness to thank the man.</p>
<p>“Thank you, thank you. I thought we were dead,” The musician huffed.</p>
<p>“No problem,” replied the older half with way too cheery of a tone. “There’s no way I’d just stand by. And I don’t want your money!” He added as Wilbur shakily reached into his pocket.</p>
<p>“Really? You sure?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s not a big deal. We don’t really use money anyways!” The older half began glancing around the scenery. “How do you guys feel about camping up with us? It’s late, and I doubt we’ll be able to find somewhere else to go.”</p>
<p>“Y-yeah, that’d be great. I can’t thank you enough.”</p>
<p>Of course Wilbur made a decision without letting anyone else have a say. But, the pang in Tommy’s legs and the weight at his eyelids were telling him not to care, so he didn’t. He’d get some rest, then hopefully the three of them would ditch these creeps.</p>
<p>“Since we’ll be camping together, we may as well introduce ourselves. I’m Phil, and this is my friend-” He gestured towards the pink half before getting interrupted.</p>
<p>“Pink.” The quartz demon cut him off coldly.</p>
<p>Phil just chuckled and said “I just call him Techno.”</p>
<p>“Techno?” Wilbur echoed. “That’s an interesting name. Where’d it come from?”</p>
<p>“Oh, it’s a nickname I gave him! It kinda just stuck.”</p>
<p>This was further proof that Phil was some sort of mastermind controlling the demon. He turned this war machine into his pet and gave him a nickname. <em> Fking wack job </em>.</p>
<p>Tubbo had been staring at the quartz demon with big eyes since they stopped, which seemed to make him uncomfortable. The demon seemed shaky throughout the entire encounter, and oddly enough, Tommy thought the quartz might be <em> afraid </em>. Which was stupid. Tubbo was way smaller than the pink half, why should he care at all?</p>
<p>“Are you really the Quartz Demon?” his friend asked suddenly. At the mention of that name, the quartz flicked his eyes around and started thumping his tail randomly.</p>
<p>The older half shot a nervous glance towards the quartz demon before responding.</p>
<p>“Just call him Techno. He’s actually a really sweet guy.”</p>
<p>“Thank you Techno!” Tubbo chirped. Tubbo was also not one to distrust apparently.</p>
<p>Tommy was still uneasy. He didn’t deny being the quartz demon, who knows how much of the stories were true?</p>
<p>There was a fuzzy static that gently began prodding through his thoughts.</p>
<p>What if Phil wasn’t actually that bad? Part of Tommy’s brain that wanted to trust him.</p>
<p>
  <em> Make your case, me. </em>
</p>
<p>His wings were large and dark, and they almost touched the ground when folded. He wore dark green clothes that also nearly scraped the path, with an oddly shaped green and white hat. It looked nothing like Wilbur’s. He was relatively short, and his overall shape was completely nonthreatening.</p>
<p>He noticed Tommy staring, and gave a small wave before returning to the conversation that Tommy had tuned out of.</p>
<p>Phil himself had a soft smile perched upon his face most of the time now. His occasional hearty laughter made him seem like a familiar friend, despite knowing him for such a short amount of time. He was nothing like the quartz demon, yet he seemed so close to him. Especially with the unheard conversation they had back at the town, it was obvious that the two were close.</p>
<p>Tommy felt like he could trust Phil now, just a little bit. He didn’t <em> seem </em> like a crazy mastermind. Hopefully he wasn’t.</p>
<p>If he could somewhat trust Phil, then maybe Techno wasn’t the worst. He’d still be weary around them both, though.</p>
<p>“Sorry, did I forget to introduce us? I’m Wilbur, and these lucky motherfkrs are Tommy and Tubbo. Lot’s been goin on recently.”</p>
<p>“Well,” exclaimed Phil, “let’s get set up, shall we?”</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>The five of them had sat on the bare ground around a crackling fire within a small dirt pit, waiting for the sky to finish turning black. The surrounding area was a dry grassy plain, with many insects chirping about. A pale moonlight brushed against the sky, with stars dotting the space around it. The four faces he could see slightly flickered with sun colored flames, which were battling the cold of the night. This fire was small, controlled, and much less intimidating. Still, the memories it gave off were uncomfortable to say the least. Conversation was the only thing that managed to block them out.</p>
<p>Phil spanned his wings, and they were almost indistinguishable from the sky behind him. He explained that he was a night half, and he was often mistaken for a black dragon.</p>
<p>“Black dragon?” Tommy echoed, admittedly curious. He had sat himself right next to Tubbo, as if his friend would vanish if he wasn’t there.</p>
<p>“Yeah, everyone thinks they’re real dangerous, since they’re a flat color,” Phil elaborated from across the flames. He pointed at his wings. “I actually have dark purple scales, with these little white bits. Not a black dragon.”</p>
<p>Tommy didn’t understand what ‘flat color’ meant, but he didn’t have the energy to ask about it. While curious, the idea of discussing scales was… not great.</p>
<p>“You must deal with a hell of a lot of trouble then,” Wilbur said from just next to them.</p>
<p>Phil shrugged. “You get used to it.”</p>
<p>Phil’s sideways glance and quieted tone made Tommy feel like there was more to his answer. He probably wasn’t the best at lying.</p>
<p>Techno also seemed dissatisfied with this response, as he looked at Phil with narrowed eyes before glaring at his own hands.</p>
<p>That’s right, Techno. It was easier to call him that instead of Quartz Demon. Had a better ring to it. That, and it made him feel just a bit more comfortable with how dangerous the situation could be. The guy had proven himself calm enough to sit down for sleep, so there was a hope that he could refrain from sudden violence. He was sitting with his dark and stained sword, which was sticking out of the ground. The quartz had also previously shed his bloodied brown coat to reveal a plain white shirt underneath, untouched by human blood. His hair still had some blood in it though.</p>
<p>It was long and pink, like his shiny scales. That was something Tommy saw a little bit at the orphanage, the hair color thing. Phil’s was blonde, but paler than Tommy’s. This made Techno the odd one out in terms of hair color, as nobody else’s hair matched their scales.</p>
<p>“So what’s your story?” Wilbur asked while slightly eying Techno.</p>
<p>The quartz shuffled to the side, refusing to join the conversation.</p>
<p>“Ah, I met Techno a few years back. We were both in a rough spot, but we got out alright. ‘Got ourselves a house now.”</p>
<p>“Are there others there?” Tubbo asked sleepily.</p>
<p>“Nope, we’re alone. That’s fine though, Techno’s great company.”</p>
<p>So Phil and Techno had a house somewhere, alone. Maybe Tommy could do something similar? It sounded nice and quiet.</p>
<p>“So, you play music, Wilbur?” Phil asked with a gesture towards the black instrument on his back. Tommy gulped. Hopefully Wilbur wouldn’t be enticed to play, there had been more than enough prophecies for a lifetime.</p>
<p>“Ah, yes I do!” He replied cheerfully. “It’s how I tell my prophecies!”</p>
<p>“So you <em> are </em> a pebble half! I wasn’t quite sure,” Phil said with a laugh.</p>
<p>“I’d recommend not playing til morning,” Techno spoke up. “Could be dangerous if you do it now. You don’t control if it’s a prophecy, do you?” Tommy let go of a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. Somehow Techno had saved him twice in one night.</p>
<p>“No,” Wilbur said deflatedly. “It just kinda comes out. Whether it’s a prophecy or a normal song is up to… probably random chance, I can’t tell.”</p>
<p>“So that’s why some songs were weird and some weren’t!” Tubbo realized.</p>
<p>“Hey! My non-prophecy songs are just fine, thank you!”</p>
<p>Tubbo stuttered.</p>
<p>“I didn’t mean that they were bad!”</p>
<p>“I reckon all of the prophecy ones were dumb, even before you told us about that. Rude, by the way.” Tommy interjected.</p>
<p>Phil let out another chuckle.</p>
<p>“You three must’ve known each other for a long time now, huh?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I love visiting these little buggers!” Wil replied. “The other kids-“ he stopped himself. His face looked dark now, like a fire that just got hushed. “Sorry.”</p>
<p>Tommy knew exactly what he was going to talk about, and was glad he didn’t continue. Not around two strangers. Not around Tubbo.</p>
<p>Speaking of Tubbo, he had started to sink closer towards the ground. His face drooped too. He looked tired, and for a damn good reason.</p>
<p>Phil and Techno stayed quiet. Phil seemed saddened and confused, but since he didn’t press the subject, it was clear that he understood not to talk about it. Instead, he grabbed cloth from a bag he had been concealing and passed it out to everyone. There were four, so Tommy and Tubbo decided to share one.</p>
<p>After Wilbur received his, he stepped away and flew up into a nearby tree with his instrument on his back.</p>
<p>As the fire crinkled and crackled calmly and the insects sang in a low hum, nobody talked. It was an uncomfortable but welcome silence. Tommy liked the idea of sleep. Today was exhausting, and he was ready to be done with it. The morning would be a problem for later.</p>
<p>He shifted so that his wings could wrap around himself and Tubbo without putting too much strain on the broken wing. Tubbo didn’t raise his wings this time, he seemed too tired to notice what Tommy had done. It didn’t take long for him to start snoring.</p>
<p>Phil and Techno must have assumed that Tommy was asleep too, as they took this as an invitation to talk between themselves.</p>
<p>“You alright Tech?”</p>
<p>Initially all that answered was a sharp inhale, but it was eventually followed by a “yeeeup."</p>
<p>The air swirled around coldly. Someone was brooding in a tree, two people were having a mental fight, and in the midst of it, two friends were resting on the ground. What a damn night.</p>
<p>“We’ll go home tomorrow. You’ve done a lot, so we can take some time to calm down, yeah?”</p>
<p>More silence. Tommy honestly just wanted these weirdos to shut up so he could sleep, but part of him was genuinely curious about the conversation. It was cryptic, but maybe something beneficial could be gained from it.</p>
<p>“How many rations do we have left?” A scratchy and low voice, not the one that was doing all of the talking.</p>
<p>“Enough to feed our guests and fly home. ‘Got just a little left over in case something comes up, but I think we should just prioritize getting back.”</p>
<p>“Mmh. I’ll have to check the potatoes when we get back.”</p>
<p>A beat of silence passed between the strangers.</p>
<p>“You sure you’re alright? Remember, I can help you if you need anything. You’re not alone. You never are.”</p>
<p>A few moments went by, only occupied by the crackling fire and the bugs of the night.</p>
<p>“... thank you, Phil. You should get some rest now, it’s been a long day.”</p>
<p>“You too. Goodnight, Techno.” Someone yawned, which quickly was replaced by snoring.</p>
<p>He thought they were <em> both </em> snoring, but when Tommy shifted his broken wing, his eyes were met with a cold crimson glare.</p>
<p>“You haven’t told them that you broke it yet, have you?” Techno deadpanned. Tommy shivered. Did the quartz know that he was listening in? Hopefully not, that’s a dangerous dragon to poke.</p>
<p>“No,” Tommy said quietly, hoping to seem as innocent as possible. If he could play that part, then maybe if the guy had a shred of decency, he’d leave Tommy alone for it.</p>
<p>Techno sighed. “You’re going to mess up your wing down the line if you don’t fix that soon. I’d be shocked if it wasn’t causing you pain.” Thankfully he didn’t seem to notice. Either that or he just decided to leave Tommy alone. It was kind of a tossup between the two.</p>
<p>Tommy glanced at his wing. The quartz was right, it hurt like hell. The shoulder on that side was sore too, it had been since this morning. Honestly he was shocked that the outline didn’t look like a staircase with how it felt.</p>
<p>A deep sigh sounded from across the crackling. The pink half’s face scrunched up before blinking it away. He looked to the lump at his side, then connected his crimson eyes back with Tommy’s.</p>
<p>“Phil and I can try to fix it tomorrow. Just- just get some rest for now.”</p>
<p>
  <em> What? Is this guy seriously going to make himself stay around us more? </em>
</p>
<p>Hell no.</p>
<p>Before Tommy could think of a response, a soft hum sounded from the tree Wilbur was in. It sounded sad, if sound from an instrument could do that.</p>
<p>“I told him not to,” Techno grumbled.</p>
<p>The song Wilbur was singing was eerily familiar, even through the saddened tone. It was much shorter this time, just a portion of it. It was weirdly different, in an unsettling way, and the ethereal tone that echoed through the night made it even more unnerving.</p>
<p>
  <em> Oh ruby dragon, oh ruby dragon, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Why can’t we see your magnificent scales? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Your pale hair? </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Protect him and I’ll protect you, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> The others couldn’t be saved from death’s hand, </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> But you’ll have me. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Run with me, run with me. </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em> Run away from death. </em>
</p>
<p>A cold feeling crept up on Tommy. The song that Wilbur had left unfinished the night before was now complete. That’s why he was so sure that they couldn’t go back to save anyone. That’s why he wanted him to stick so close to Tubbo. That’s why Wilbur was shivering. So afraid.</p>
<p>Tommy blinked, momentarily seeing Wilbur’s crazed eyes from just before his home burned. His throat tightened. The image had seared into his mind now. It would never leave. No amount of frantic scrubbing could remove that hell from behind his eyelids. Hell. It was <em> hell </em>.</p>
<p>Tommy was holding onto Tubbo a little too tightly now.</p>
<p>He didn’t want to let go.</p>
<p>He didn’t want to lose him.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>(OLD)Whew, been a while since I posted. Lots of stuff is going on in my life at the moment, so I doubt I'll be able to do a consistent upload schedule. I'll try to upload at least once every two weeks, but no guarantees. I am glad I waited so long to upload this one though, that giant chunk of Tecnho lore wasn't there at first and I only thought of it recently. The big thing I added to him is that he's a greater half, and you'll learn what that is soon enough!</p>
<p>I also recommend reading 'Teach me to fly, teach me to live' by always_an_anxious_mess, as it's part of what inspired me to make this.</p>
<p>4/1/2021 UPDATE: (not an April fools joke dw) I will be making changes to chapter 5 soon in preparation for chapter 6. I hate retconning, but I really don't like the way I wrote Techno and Tommy's relationship, and I'll be changing some things around so that chapter 6 makes more sense. I also may go back and edit chapter 1, maybe adjust a little bit in chapter 2, and some light touches on chapter 4 if any. Any changes made on chapter 2 and 4 would probably be so minor that you guys wouldn't need to go back and reread them. I'll also be making heavy changes to the drafts I have, chapters 7 8 and 9 are all getting restructured and mostly rewritten. Both the chapter 5 update and chapter 6 should probably be out next week, since this week was hell for school. Sorry for the wait!</p>
<p>4/7/21: Update is out now! Hope you enjoyed! I'll take more time to make sure this doesn't happen again cause I hate it.</p>
<p>Now join the Twitter and follow my Discord yada yada</p>
<p>@BenchCheese<br/>https://discord.gg/6DX2ftjPgc</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Curses</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Yeah, I updated after nearly two months. This is like 6k words so it better be worth.</p><p>HEY UHHH GO MAKE SURE YOU'VE REREAD CHAPTER 1 AND 5 CAUSE I MADE UPDATES TO THEM A WHILE BACK</p><p>!!!TW FOR:!!!</p><p>Bone breaking<br/>More fire (yes really)<br/>DEREALIZATION</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I wonder who this could be...</p><p>Why does his name change?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tonight was quiet.</p><p>One of the more comfortable nights he had recently, although it wasn’t the first in this cabin.</p><p>It wasn’t uncommon to lay down in the forest and wake up in a town. His strange displacements were always paired with odd dreams that honestly felt more like a memory. They were hazy and realistic, and he could recall details like his hands, feet, and nose, that you typically can’t recall in a dream. The strangest part was that they always seemed off. Whenever he woke up, his hands felt too narrow and flat, and his legs looked uncomfortably long. Everything felt <em> wrong </em>. Especially when he woke up in a place he had never seen before.</p><p>Of course, every time he woke up in an inn, he would leave as quickly and as quietly as he possibly could. He didn’t know what brought him here, so he had no idea if this place was safe or not. It was always best to get out as soon as he could.</p><p>The other sight could help, yes, and he did use it whenever the thought of it came to his mind, but it could never truly quell the fear in his heart. Especially when he had no idea what could have moved him. Not once did he have a proper memory of moving there himself. Occasionally he’d see images of himself in a place he had no recollection of, doing things he wouldn’t ever do. It was chilling just thinking about it. Something was <em> moving </em> him, and he didn’t know why.</p><p>He didn’t stop seeing the pebble man in his dreams, not since he got here. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. It meant that, thankfully, he would not be subjected to his other weird dreams. Instead, he got beautiful sounds with cryptic images. Strange visions aside, the odd sounds he made with that strange object were beautiful, and the way the pebble man said those words… he knew there was a term for it, but he couldn’t remember. He couldn’t remember a lot of things.</p><p>Tonight’s visit was like the others. Five cryptic pictures flashed, giving no clue to their meaning. After all of them, he simply saw himself.</p><p>Cut to black. He loved black.</p><p>Then, the pebble man appeared.</p><p>The pebble man spread his grey wings, and began to flick his fingers across what he had now realized were strings. Why did the pebble man put strings on that object? Was that what made the sound?</p><p>The words were different from last time, as was normal. He had gotten used to the pebble man’s visits after a while. It was a comfort to hear him. The sounds were nothing short of enchanting, like a warm and wispy blanket that gently dances around you. It was a confusing but very welcome freedom, which he hadn’t really felt before.</p><p>Even with how relaxing the sounds made him feel, the message that followed them was quite odd.</p><p>
  <em> Down by the mountain, </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Improperly named. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> They welcome us with open arms. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> The void calls, </em>
</p><p>
  <em> It’s touch friendly. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> A gem glitters, </em>
</p><p>
  <em> He protects this place. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> It will protect you. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> You and me. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> We must find it. </em>
</p><p>
  <em> Find me. </em>
</p><p>That was all he could remember.</p><p>Did it mean anything? He didn’t know. He had no idea as to if the pebble man was even real or not. He could’ve just been a quirk of his dreams, meant to comfort him in the silence. If he wasn’t, why was he in his dreams? Would he meet the pebble man like he said? Is that what he asked with those words? Was the story from his perspective or the pebble man’s? Who is the gemstone, and why were they safe? Why should he trust the void? What were the images before the pebble man? It included a pebble, so it was obvious that one of them was referring to him, but what was the rest?</p><p>These were all questions he never could answer himself.</p><p>Then he remembered the place the pebble man spoke of. There was a mountain nearby, likely a lengthy journey. It was dangerous, as a black dragon was said to nest there. He had heard whispers about it, before he was- before he left. They called it the Black Nest. Supposedly a pit of death, where the forest sits in silent colors. Why would the pebble man tell him to go there? Especially when he had this cabin to himself.</p><p>
  <em> Unless it’s a warning. </em>
</p><p>He knew that it was possible for this peaceful life to end. He didn’t have it for very long, but with how angry the humans were before, it was entirely possible they would be looking for him.</p><p>It was entirely possible that the pebble man was warning him to run into danger because the humans would find him and become more dangerous than the black dragon could be but he couldn’t bear to face the middle of two evils as they could easily crush his reality into little pieces and leave nothing but pitiful crumbs of a pointless existence with-</p><p>
  <em> I’m spiraling. </em>
</p><p>The thought shot through his mind very suddenly, pinning him back in the present.</p><p>Yes, there was a possibility of danger. There was the possibility that the pebble man was warning him of said danger. There was the possibility that this peace wouldn’t last long.</p><p>That wouldn’t stop him from enjoying the happiness that he could finally have.</p><p>Instead of getting hung up on it, he decided it was time to eat.</p><p>Outside the cabin, he crouched by small rows of plants, eying each one. There were a lot of them, and he had a fuzzy idea of each name. The chill in the winds of the cold season were suddenly missing, replaced with a warm breeze. That’s probably why he could see so many plants, because he never seemed to find plants in the cold season. Everything in the middle of the rows was plentiful. He could barely tell where the plants ended, as the amount of leaves and vines sprawling around made the dirt difficult to spot amongst the green.</p><p>
  <em> Such beautifully grown crops should be harvested with care. </em>
</p><p>Slowly and carefully, he spread his fingers into the ground. Dirt didn’t feel great in between his fingernails, but he had gotten used to it throughout his life. Something touched his fingers in the dirt. With more movement, he found more and more connecting pieces. With a yank, he unearthed the object.</p><p>The powerful movement pulled him out of the memory.</p><p>He was still in the cabin, a small bundle of carrots resting in his palms neatly, without any dirt. His knees were devoid of any fresh stains, and nothing had appeared on the cabin floors. The cabin door hadn't even been shoved open today.</p><p>Those weren’t his hands in the dirt.</p><p>Those weren’t his hands that pulled up these carrots.</p><p>Those weren’t his thoughts that he heard just now.</p><p>That wasn’t even the same garden.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>Peering outside the cabin window, he saw that the sky was darkening. The forest felt like it was anticipating a storm. He could hear the bugs outside starting to gather and chirp, eager for the sun to finish it’s fall. The grass outside hardly moved. It was almost as if it was waiting for something. Afraid.</p><p>This made him uneasy. He realized how uncomfortable he was after he had scratched at his neck while pulling at his shirt collar.</p><p>Instead of looking outside and letting negativity cloud his mind, he decided to stretch his wings.</p><p>He didn’t get to do that often.</p><p>As a consequence, this would hurt.</p><p>A small snapping noise sounded from his back as a rough muscle movement revealed his dark wings. He let out a hiss. They stung. Actually, yeah, they <em> really hurt </em>. Slowly and carefully, they crept out from his back. Once he had completed the movement, the muscles in his wings finally got to relax. It felt like keeping your knee bent for a full day, except your knee gets scrapes and scars the longer you hold it in place. He rolled his shoulders one at a time, shifting the weight of his wings and letting them loose. It felt nice to move them freely, without being afraid of eyes on him.</p><p>It made him…</p><p>Happy.</p><p>It reminded him of a coal black color. Like the firewood at the bottom of the pit, or meat that had been heated up so much that it had a nice crunch to it.</p><p>A positive color for him.</p><p>The scales he had set free were a lovely dark purple, with light pink patches and accents. He liked thinking it was pink instead of white. He liked pink. Not his favorite color, that was blue for some reason, but pink was good too. Pink was fluffy and kind, unlike the discomfort that the color white gave him. Although, red wasn’t a good color to see on his wings.</p><p>He carefully strode around the cabin in search of a cloth, stretching his wings as he went. He hadn’t been here long enough to remember where everything was yet, but he was sure that there was something he could use to brush off the blood. After some searching, he found a wireframe basket with unfamiliar clothes inside, neatly stacked to the top. At the bottom, he could just barely see a pale rag sticking out from the bottom.</p><p>He began sorting the items. A shirt here, some socks there, it was an easy rhythm to lose himself in. He made sure to lightly flex his wings as a part of the pattern, slowly chipping away at the pain in his scales. The basket’s contents were soon piling up, getting lower and lower as his hands went back and forth steadily. Each cycle was only slightly different, having to make small adjustments for each one. His eyes drifted to and from the basket, lightly eying the cloth that awaited him at the bottom. Each soft and unfamiliar material that danced out of his hands was a bit closer to his goal. Honestly, he didn’t want to stop. This process of sorting was peaceful and calming, allowing him to let his mind drift away. It was nice to-</p><p>
  <b>A shout broke his trance.</b>
</p><p>An angry shout. Something that hurt him. Something that made his skin turn to ice.</p><p>His wings and tail tucked themselves away before another heartbeat passed.</p><p>Fear pulsed loudly in his veins. He knew he was afraid, there was no use in denying it.</p><p>
  <em> Did they find me? </em>
</p><p>The aggressive banging at the door answered his question.</p><p>He staggered backwards, as if the noise took longer to register in his head. His feet moved without his mind, fleeing into one of the bedrooms.</p><p>
  <em> They heard me. </em>
</p><p>More shouts sounded from the front door. For each one two followed, before the only thing he could hear was danger and ringing.</p><p>He shut the bedroom door and dove beneath the bed.</p><p>A crash screamed in his ear. They were inside now, weren’t they?</p><p>He whimpered.</p><p>Why did he have to lose this place so soon?</p><p>
  <em> Why are they hunting me? </em>
</p><p>A morbid curiosity stung his eyes. Hunger for knowledge clawed at him, begging him to look at them. Begging him to see the searing white he knew he would see. It was an instinct now, really. He couldn’t stop himself from looking for an answer he already had.</p><p>He blinked, and his vision was empty now. He reluctantly pulled his eyes to around where he heard the shouting from, knowing he wouldn’t like what he would see.</p><p>He wished he didn’t.</p><p>Once again, blazing white charred his vision. Engulfing his mind. Just like all of the previous times he had done it. It was so rare to see anything other than that painful haunting white. He blinked out of it with a gasp.</p><p>Was he shivering now? Or was that when he first heard the yelling? When had his breathing become so shaky and unnatural? Why was his face stinging?</p><p>Shifting further under the bed caused a small squeak to occur behind him. He felt something moving on his back, and turned to see a loose plank of wood in the wall.</p><p>A way out.</p><p>He desperately pried at the plank, scratching and scraping at the cold wood. His fingers screamed to stop but he knew he couldn’t. He knew exactly what was on the line, and he didn’t want to take that risk. He finally convinced it to wiggle free, letting a small portion of the outside into the cabin.</p><p>The grass reflected an orange color, and he realized he could hear a crackling noise through the shouts now. He shoved himself into the gap, snatching the outline of his tail from the wood. He yanked himself into the grass, falling flat before scrambling to his feet.</p><p>What he found behind him filled him with a white hot horror.</p><p>The cabin walls had erupted into bright orange flames, almost blending in with the sky. The engulfing fire stretched far above the trees. Heat plagued his eyes, as if the sight alone could burn them out. A deafening crash sounded in front of him, signifying that the interior had given way. Some shapes meandered about the side of the cabin, metal catching his eye.</p><p>The humans were here. </p><p>They shouted for blood.</p><p>All he could think to do was run.</p><p>Run, far into the forest, just like the night he came here.</p><p>He ran until his legs simply wouldn’t move anymore.</p><p>He ran until he couldn’t ignore how his lungs screamed.</p><p>He sat up, brushing the dirt off his face.</p><p>Tears mixed in, stinging his cheeks.</p><p>He didn’t even notice his back still hurt.</p><p>He thought about the home he had lost.</p><p>It was one of the only ones he had ever had.</p><p>He wanted to grieve for it.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>“So you’re going back to your home?”</p><p>“Yeah, we’ve stayed out here for a bit too long,” Phil confirmed.</p><p>It was morning now. Tommy had woken up to a smiling Phil, which was preferred over the alternative. He still had his friend, though.</p><p>Aside from a yawn, Tubbo was relatively quiet this morning. His energy was likely still recovering from last night, and honestly, who could blame him?</p><p>Breakfast ended up being a thin rationing of food from the night half’s bag, which was surprisingly meant for more than two people. Why would they prepare to feed more than just themselves? What morons. Came in handy though.</p><p>The night half was packed up and standing on the dirt road they had slept next to last night. Beside him was Techno, who was somehow standing with his eyes closed. Maybe the quartz should have gotten a little more sleep. Although, the guy slept like a log, and was the last to wake up. Now that Tommy noticed, Techno had <em> always </em> looked tired. It was like the legends of the quartz demon told of a completely different person. He acted a lot less murdery than expected. Not even a hint of aggression was in his eyes, at least after they had left the town. His movements were careful and planned, but with a slowness of someone who didn’t really care in the end.</p><p>Phil on the other hand, was always smiling from ear to ear. In further contrast to his companion, Phil was making plans whenever he could. He asked a lot of questions when everyone had woken up, but he paced them oddly. It gave Tommy a little more time to think than Tubbo ever did, even if he hardly answered. Being questioned by a stranger was honestly one of the strangest fkn things that could have happened this morning, but Wilbur did most of the answering anyway. Him and Phil were constantly chattering while the rest of them kind of just listened. It was strange, but a nice change of pace. It gave him space to breathe.</p><p>He was used to doing the same kind of chattering with Tubbo, talking to his heart’s content while his friend added peppy input. Now Tommy just didn’t want any attention. He would rather the discussion leave him than risk Tubbo worrying about him.</p><p>Tommy still wasn’t completely sure if he could trust Phil, though. The idea that he could be trusted seemed too comfortable in his mind. He had swooped in heroically to save them and all, but what if he was doing that for himself? He hasn’t stolen anything yet, and he’s done the exact opposite of harm. Maybe he was waiting for the time to strike? Buttering them up before unleashing the quartz demon upon them? It was unlikely, sure, but Tommy wanted to keep it in the back of his mind just in case. Even if he didn’t truly believe that Phil could do any harm. It was an odd paranoia.</p><p>Tommy hadn’t experienced betrayal before, only reading about it in books. He recalled finding a dusty old book on a shelf that Ms. Grahn told him to stay away from. It was about a human farmer who trusted a dragon to keep his sheep and cows alive, but the farmer ended up senselessly murdering the dragon. The dragon didn’t even do anything wrong. It was a stupid story. He only read it once.</p><p>“Do you know somewhere safe we could go?” Wilbur asked hopefully, snapping Tommy’s focus back into the present.</p><p>Phil hummed with a finger on his chin.</p><p>“I’m pretty sure we’ve got a map back home that leads to a place we stayed once. Didn’t fall down, just had to leave for… personal reasons. It’s a pretty good town though.” The night half turned to talk with his companion. “Tech, you alright if we take them with us and show them the map?”</p><p>Red eyes jumped from Phil, to Tubbo, to Tommy, and back to Phil. They lingered on Tommy.</p><p>There was a mumble of agreement.</p><p>“You’d really let us tag along?” Wilbur exhaled with wide eyes.</p><p>“Of course! It‘s just a day’s flight, so it won’t take long!”</p><p>Tommy flinched. He’d never flown, and nor had Tubbo. Flying meant that they’d have to fix his broken wing, which wouldn’t feel great. It would also require everyone else finding out that his wing was broken, which could <em> not </em> happen. Unfortunately there wasn’t a way out that Tommy could think of. Hopefully they would have a reason not to fly.</p><p>Techno shot him a look before sealing his doom.</p><p>“We really should fly there, it’s way faster.”</p><p>
  <em> What a btch. </em>
</p><p>“Well Tommy and I don’t know how to fly yet…” Tubbo piped up. He mentally thanked Tubbo for being the one to bring that up. Tommy could have cheered if he thought it was ok to do so.</p><p>“Really? Aren’t you supposed to learn around 10?” Phil wondered, attempting to throw a knife into Tommy’s plans.</p><p>Tubbo gave a nervous laugh, ready to unknowingly fight for Tommy.</p><p>“About that…”</p><p>Phil’s face flashed with pity before returning to his usual smile. This could work. There’s no way that Phil would bother with trying to fly anymore.</p><p>“That’s alright! We’ll teach you, and if worse comes to worse we can just carry you.”</p><p>Tommy’s heart sank. Just as he thought he was in the clear, Phil had to keep on being unreasonably nice, to the detriment of Tommy’s sanity.</p><p>Techno’s gaze intensified.</p><p>“Do you have something to say, Tommy?”</p><p>
  <em> FKING SHT, THIS BTCH! </em>
</p><p>Everyone stared at him, confused, and the static from last night crept back into his head.</p><p>“No, not really…” Tommy gulped. That didn’t sound genuine at all. He couldn’t make eye contact with anyone in fear of further digging his grave.</p><p>“Hmm, you sure?” <em> Please shut the fk up Techno </em>. The quartz stepped closer, towering over Tommy with a dark crimson stare.</p><p>Tommy couldn’t really lie his way out of this one. Not in front of Techno, who was seriously fkn scary. It wasn’t anyone’s business, he could take care of it himself! Although unfortunately there was a very intimidating pink scaled man who probably wouldn’t allow that. He just had to suck it up and admit defeat, which honestly felt like sht.</p><p>“I broke my wing…” he mumbled, hoping that the ground wouldn’t figure out how to make eye contact with him.</p><p>“Tommy what?” His friend squawked directly into Tommy’s ear.</p><p>“Tommy you stubborn btch, why didn’t you tell me sooner?” Wilbur shouted, his face bristling. “How long ago was this?”</p><p>“Look, it’s not a big deal alright? I can figure it out myself!” He shoved the quivering bit of his voice into the back of his mind, as if forgetting it made it so that nobody would notice it. Techno gave a small chuckle and mumbled something, probably because he figured it out first like the omniscient bastard he was. He was probably making a comment about Tommy being a ruby, because that’s what pricks do. Tommy wished he could just start yelling swears at him, but it would probably make it worse.</p><p>And it would upset Phil.</p><p>Nobody upsets Phil.</p><p>Phil sighed.</p><p>“Sht Tommy, you can’t just hide that sort of thing. You’ll seriously hurt yourself if you keep doing that.”</p><p>Tubbo’s face momentarily changed from shock to something else, but he concealed whatever expression he had before Tommy could figure out what it was. Maybe it was realization? He hoped not. He didn’t want Tubbo to worry.</p><p>“Well, shouldn’t it’ve fixed itself by now?” Wilbur did not appreciate this response.</p><p>“You dumb btch, it’s with SCALES, not bones,” he seethed. The musician began speed walking circles into the dirt, his hands waving and tail flicking rapidly. It wasn’t an outline, preferring to contribute to the dirt circle rather than stay hidden. “Your wings won’t just fix themselves!”</p><p>“Jeez, calm down Wilbur, I think he just doesn’t understand,” Phil intervened. He was now talking to Tommy directly. “It’s alright, I’m sure you had the right intentions. Just don’t hide that stuff from the people you care about, alright?”</p><p>Tommy took a deep breath. Phil was right, somehow. Tommy would never say that out loud, of course.</p><p>Wilbur looked painfully guilty now. He took a breath of his own before speaking again, this time in a much lower tone.</p><p>“I’m sorry Tommy. Just- please don’t hide from me.”</p><p>Tommy didn’t hate Wilbur. He’s insufferable at times, and frustratingly more so since revealing the prophecy thing, but he wasn’t downright hatable. More like a soft disliking. He couldn’t deny the countless good memories he had of Wilbur. It was easy to miss the positive feeling that his songs used to give off, replaced now by painful reminders. That didn’t change how much of a btch he was being right now, though.</p><p>Not even the panic that the pebble man was whispering to himself now.</p><p>“Now unfortunately this means we can’t teach you two to fly today,” Phil continued. “</p><p>“Aww,” Tubbo said, looking sad. “Well, as long as Tommy’s wing gets fixed, it’s alright.”</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>It was not alright.</p><p>They had told Tommy to get on the ground, which meant his tail was touching the dirt.</p><p>Yuck.</p><p>Secondly, Techno and Phil would have to re-break the wing in order to set it correctly.</p><p>Not. Fun.</p><p>Third, Tubbo had decided to hold his hand through the entire thing. It wasn’t something Tommy disliked, but the idea of everyone else seeing made him sputter. That, and the fact that he had practically <em> announced </em> it to everyone was something he despised.</p><p>Lastly, it hurt.</p><p>A lot.</p><p>Two weirdos sat to his side, about to re-break his wing. His best friend sat to the other, way too chipper about what was happening. And Wilbur… where was Wilbur?</p><p>“Do we really have to do it like this?” he pleaded.</p><p>“Yes,” Phil replied, hardly paying attention to Tommy. Instead he was focused on his broken wing, probably contemplating on how he would fix it. “Tubbo, can you start talking to him for me?”</p><p>“About what?” His friend asked curiously.</p><p>“Just anything. Take his mind off of this.”</p><p>“Ok Phil!” He replied cheerfully.</p><p>“Why are you so chipper about this? The fk?!?” Tommy squealed.</p><p>“‘Cause I’m helping my friend get better!” Tubbo beamed. “Honestly, you’re kinda like a watermelon. Cause you’re cool, you’re red, and I think you’re awesome!”</p><p><em> What btch! </em> Using such an obvious tactic of flattery? Buttering him up like a <em> child </em> as if to lessen the pain? That’s not a trap the great Big Man Tommy would fall for!</p><p>“Your tricks of flattery won’t work on me, btch!”</p><p>It seemed that Tubbo was prepared for this.</p><p>“No, you are though!” He thumped with a sickening sweetness. “Honestly, I mean it! Which is why I want to distract you!”</p><p>Oh wait, that’s right.</p><p>His wing.</p><p>A white hot pain shot through his shoulder with a crack. Someone screeched loud enough to disturb some birds nested in the nearby tree, but it certainly wouldn’t be Tommy who did that.</p><p>More flashes of pain fired off, accompanied by more horrific snapping sounds. Someone’s rough hands were still holding his wing down, but his tail was free to fling around rapidly. In the dirt. <em> Fking gross. </em></p><p>It probably didn’t take more than a few seconds, but that sht felt like it lasted enough time to pass the morning ten times over. Someone was tightly wrapping his wing in a cloth. It hurt less now, but it meant he couldn’t make it into an outline.</p><p>The last of the screaming died down, and Tommy was freed from the rough hands, wherever they were. He realized that Tubbo had let go in the process, but he couldn’t locate his friend because of how muddled his senses were now. Shaking off the pain, he finally opened his eyes and looked up.</p><p>Wilbur reappeared, now crouched in front of him with a hand outstretched.</p><p>Grabbing Wilbur’s hand, Tommy noticed something he’d never seen before. His glove had shifted with the contact, showing… <em> something </em> . It had gone unnoticed for <em> years </em> , and he had no idea how. It was weird as <em> fk </em>.</p><p>A good ways below his thumb, probably around the ball of his wrist, was a tangle of scars. They were organized, forming a strange pattern that almost made a symbol. It wasn’t quite a letter, more like a small collection of shapes. It was hard to make out in the fleeting moment, but Tommy was sure he could make out the scraggly form of a star, with something behind it and something in the middle of it.</p><p>Confusion washed over the pain from just a few moments ago, and Tommy was left standing with the wind. Wilbur’s mark was invisible again, covered by the worn and patchy fabric of his coat. When Wilbur let go of his hand, Tommy just looked at his own, as if staring at it would magically give him the answer. It didn’t make sense. Nothing Wilbur did or said made ever sense.</p><p>He looked to Wilbur with his brows furrowed. Wilbur’s glance at the two strangers with them reminded him that maybe now wasn’t the best time. He wanted answers, and he wanted them <em> now </em>, but before he could gather up the words, Wilbur cleared his throat.</p><p>“C’mon, I’ll carry you there.”</p><p>Before Tommy could finish processing what he said, Techno rejected this idea.</p><p>“You don’t know the way to go, Wilbur. If you fall behind, you’ll get lost. I think it’d be best if I took him and Phil takes Tubbo.” Techno finished.</p><p>If Tommy wasn’t stunned from the confusion and physical pain right now, he surely would have started swearing <em> a lot </em>.</p><p>Wil didn’t seem to like this idea either, as he pinched up his face. He relaxed with a sigh before turning all dark and serious.</p><p>“Do <em> not </em> hurt them.”</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>Flying with Techno was scary.</p><p>Preparing to take off, Tommy was more than uneasy. That wasn’t difficult to admit. Maybe it’s because he was still very much afraid of this incredibly scary guy, but who knows. Techno’s sparkling pink wings had nearly slapped the ground on takeoff and that was easily enough to shake up Tommy’s mental state.</p><p>“Sorry, not used to your weight.”</p><p>
  <em> Fking scared the sht outta me. </em>
</p><p>He remembered the intense and panicked breathing that took forever to subside. The pink fk didn’t even seem to notice, which was ironic given the annoying omniscience from this morning and last night.</p><p>The cool breeze that met him in the sky was admittedly <em> almost </em> worth it. Fking breathtaking. It was enjoyable even while being held hostage over a very very <em> very </em> high drop by a muscular demon man.</p><p>Strands of blond hair slapped at his face, only partially stopping after Tommy shoved a hand over his head to pull it back. It didn’t work well, since plenty of hair was still assaulting him.</p><p>Somehow above him Techno was doing just fine. Tommy could see a few loose strands here and there, but nothing that looked too bothersome. Somehow his pale pink hair was just flowing gracefully behind him, the obedient little shts. Why couldn’t Tommy’s hair behave? Maybe he needed a hair tie, too. It looked stupid though, and there was no way he’d be able to get one at this height.</p><p>Techno was clingy, but only in the literal sense. Tommy was actually quite thankful for this as he really appreciated having most of his bones in one piece. The ones that weren’t felt bad enough, he didn’t need his whole skeleton shattered from being dropped like an egg from a tree. That fking feeling of having his bones broken <em> twice </em> was just indescribable. Like something that was supposed to be there just suddenly <em> wasn’t </em> . It felt like blades had been shoved into his bones from the inside and just wiggled around, sending countless more streams of hurt snaking through his wing. <em> It was the fking worst. </em></p><p>The aching feeling in his wing persisted, refusing to leave him alone throughout the entire flight. Being crunched up so close to a terrifying and seemingly mind reading pink person certainly didn’t help. Tommy didn’t know if he appreciated the fact that he had yet to glance down at him. Then he remembered how his freaky red eyes looked and quickly answered that question for himself.</p><p>There was this odd dream though. It was hazy, he hardly even remembered it when he woke up, since he was too dazed to catch the wisps of the dream, but he remembered more of it now. Why that was the case was unclear as sht.</p><p>There was a vague image of Wilbur doing <em> something </em>, whatever it was was unclear. He was on the ground, maybe? He definitely wasn’t standing, that’s for sure. Typically if you don’t remember a background, you don’t imagine it as anything. This, however, was specifically backed by a black void. At some point Tommy saw himself, just looking at him. It was really awkward, especially since him and his reflection had no reaction. Just kind of looking at each other blankly.</p><p>It was fking creepy to say the least. The whole scenario had that kind of vibe of a quiet and cold building at the dead of night, but you’ve <em> got </em> to get outside. Nothing’s really happening, but at the same time, everything is happening. Thankfully, he had the ability to forget weird sht like this if it was a dream.</p><p>Tommy thought that the flight would be mostly silent. He was definitely glad that it had been like that so far. The quartz hadn’t exactly been the most talkative person so far, and he expected it to stay that way. However, as soon as they were a decent distance away from the others, the fkr began a conversation.</p><p>“That wasn’t so bad, huh?” He sounded just as cold as he had been this morning. Honestly, could the guy show any emotions?</p><p>“It was fking awful, you almost hit the ground in case you didn’t notice, shthead,” Tommy retorted, somewhat proud of the sass in his voice.</p><p>“No I mean with your wing, obviously my takeoff was terrible. It feels better now, right?”</p><p>Tommy paused. Was this fkr really asking about his wing? The one that him and Phil <em> just </em> broke this morning? It was true that they had set it, and his wing actually <em> did </em> feel better, but he wouldn’t admit it. The soreness in his shoulder did start to ebb away, too. His wing had actually settled nicely into the cast, and it wasn’t nearly as painful as the night before. A cast, that’s what they called the bandages around it. Still, he wouldn’t admit how helpful they had been. Not to this pink arsehole’s face.</p><p>“... what’s your point?”</p><p>“My point is,” Techno grumbled in a slightly less monotone voice, “you shouldn’t be letting your pride get in the way. Your hubris, if you will. It’s a nice word.”</p><p>Techno tilted his head towards the night half. Phil’s dark wings stood out nicely at this time of day, dark purple contrasting beautifully with the golds and oranges. Tubbo seemed to be having a fun conversation with him and Wilbur, who flew a bit below them. Giggles were being carried over the wind, faint and washed out by the sky’s filter. Phil’s voice sounded like just a whisper, and Wilbur’s quips were almost entirely inaudible. Tommy kind of envied his friend, whose wings were spread out beneath Phil’s. He didn’t have to feel any of the same pain, but that’s kind of what Tommy signed up for when he broke the door himself. Better him than Tubbo.</p><p>He’d just have to suck it up for now, no matter how much he wanted to feel the wind beneath his wings.</p><p>“Phil’s got a kind heart. He’s helped a lot of people, including me. Which is why I tried to do what you did, so he could focus on helping others instead of myself.”</p><p>
  <em> Is this guy really opening up? To some random kid? IN THE SKY? </em>
</p><p>What kind of fked up was this guy?</p><p>Techno grew quieter, his voice almost getting lost in the wind.</p><p>“That was my mistake.”</p><p>Silence dragged on. Techno had drifted away from the others more, so now they were completely silent to Tommy’s ears. Fk it was fking itchy now. He wanted to squirm out of the quartz’s grasp more than ever.</p><p>The pink man went back to his usual volume. “I learned my lesson, Tommy. Make sure you learn yours.”</p><p>All Tommy could respond with was a muffled “<em> what the fk. </em>”</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>The sky was edged with a dark blue now.</p><p>Techno didn’t talk very much during the rest of the flight. He was so, so very strange. One minute he was quiet and terrifying, and the next he was talking about personal sht. Very vague personal sht, but it was still some personal sht that Tommy didn’t want to hear. Just because it took some of the edge off of the guilt didn’t mean he appreciated it.</p><p>He couldn’t stop his curiosity though. Tommy would occasionally think up a question to ask, and he’d get a short and neutral response. Boring, but it was slightly entertaining to push the boundaries of annoyance. Even if it was comparable to poking a bear. Some sort of morbid curiosity within Tommy was eager to see the man mad again.</p><p>Simple questions, like “how old are you?” “How old is Phil?” “What does your house look like?” “Are other halves there?”</p><p>Simple responses.</p><p>“21. 32. Logs. No.”</p><p>All in the same monotone voice.</p><p>At least the sky looked nice.</p><p>Fading golds with pale pinks and cream orange colors, and a deep ocean blue poking at the edges. They were all squished together, blending softly and bleeding into another. It was so soft and smooth, with little white pebbles occasionally intruding on the space. Kind of like highlights, but wispy and annoying.</p><p>It was the first time Tommy had been up so high. Wilbur had occasionally picked him up against his will, but he never went higher than the trees. The quartz hadn’t quite flown high enough to touch a cloud. They were drifting a bit above the treetops, and a good way under the clouds. At first it was terrifying, especially with the mishap that almost happened, but it was alright now, the shaky and short breaths were gone.</p><p>Trees of all shapes and sizes flowed by like a river. A town or two had appeared in the distance, but they never got close enough to see many details. Wind streamed by, ruffling Tommy’s hair. It felt nice on his scales.</p><p>He glanced at his wing.</p><p>The cast made it look somewhat normal. It still didn’t feel great, but it would recover with some more time, according to Phil. Hopefully that wouldn’t take long, he didn’t want to be a liability.</p><p>Although, it was a little cold up here.</p><p>Maybe he could use some heat…</p><p>No.</p><p>That’s something he didn’t feel like he could do with Techno. Something told him that it was exclusive to those who were close to him, and there’s no way that pink bastard would ever be ‘close’ with Tommy. Was that normal? Was he supposed to be more open about the wing-thing? Asking the guy carrying him was better than asking no one.</p><p>“Is it weird for me to only want to use my ability on Tubbo?”</p><p>The pink man took a bit of time to respond, mulling it over like the smug btch he was.</p><p>“I’m not sure exactly what a ruby can do, but no, I don’t think it’s weird.” He stated. Tommy cringed at the word used to describe his scales.</p><p>“Well, I can make heat with my wings.”</p><p>“Heat with your wings?” Techno echoed. He let out an aggravating chuckle. “No, that’s not your ability, Tommy. That’s something most gemstone dragons can do, I’m able to do something similar.”</p><p>
  <em> Are you fkn serious? </em>
</p><p>“Wait, what’s my ability then?”</p><p>“Tommy, I literally just told you I don’t know.” The quartz stressed. Good, the btch deserves to be stressed.</p><p>Then Techno froze.</p><p>There was smoke billowing from a spot in the trees.</p><p>A black shape darted towards it, and the quartz dove after.</p><p>Three pairs of wings flapped to a halt over a smoking pile of ash.</p><p>A boy sat within.</p><p>The culprit.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Pay attention to when and what Tommy addresses Techno as :)</p><p>I got this chapter's name from a song by "The Crane Wives," which my friend showed me after I forcefully read them an early version of the beginning portion and they were like "yeah this sounds like a song I know." Kinda freaked me out how much it applied to the first two scenes, so BOOM chapter name. It used to be called "I'm burning up," which is one of the lyrics, but I changed it to be less obvious that a fire happens AGAIN. I know I've used that a lot but currently there's no more plans to have a big event with fire, and I'm currently thinking about how this will end sooooooo</p><p>Yeah, updates are sparse, but I've scrapped my drafts for upcoming chapters in order to make the writing process a  lot more comfortable, so hopefully chapters should start speeding up! I'm going to start writing this in a style that's a little closer to my other fic, The Spills Boys, which will update a lot faster because I'm being super chill about that one (plot holes beware). I've got so many ideas for not just this fic, but the entire SERIES and it's kind of amazing. I've got a one shot with a certain very cool person in the works that can't be released until this fic ends, so that's funky. This isn't even scratching the surface.</p><p>See ya (hopefully) soon!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I excluded George lol</p></blockquote></div></div>
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